Suddenly Luke
by Oh-no-she-di'ent
Summary: Luke holds Lorelai at arm's length, giving her time to figure out her life.  Lorelai struggles with the possibility that maybe, despite her protest, his decision isn't as futile as she claims.


_**Disclaimer**_: This story here is mine all mine, but I'm totally borrowing the characters & settings. I'm moving stuff around, putting words in people's mouths, making them way less cooler than they really are... It's pretty awful actually. : / Oh, well. On, we go.

Hey, Readers! All my LL/GG fans make some noise! If you're in public, make twice as much! Heee. ;)

This is AU. Complete. Rated M to be on the safe side. You'll notice that I took one scene from S5 and used it prematurely. Of course, I tweaked it. It's something that has always bothered me in the scene. I've always viewed it as being too intimate, so I decided to make Lorelai answer for her role in that. In the fic, I wanted LL to have already started, but I also wanted that newness that I love so much, so I put it as close to Raincoats & Recipes as I could get it. I hope you all enjoy the read! :)

**Suddenly Luke**

Lorelai would be a liar if she claimed to have never thought about it. Of course, she thought about what it'd be like to kiss Luke Danes. Over ninety percent of those more-than-friendly imaginings took place in her dreams. That's what she didn't have control over. Everyone dreamed of the people in their lives. And considering what Luke meant to her, he was definitely not above experiencing the hands-on side of her affection. The remaining percentage surfaced during the Nicole and Rachel periods. Better known as T_imes of Panic_. Jealousy oftentimes came with thoughts of sex and all of its juicy trimmings. But when not asleep and not in danger of having her closest-person-to-Luke title threatened, Lorelai maintained near all control over straying and inappropriate fancies.

That was the case before she received a last minute wedding invite.

All before a dance.

And definitely all before a test run at the Hollow's newest attraction known as the Dragonfly Inn.

On a cool spring night on the porch of the Dragonfly, it happened. Flowers, roast beef, evil doors, a little Yahtzee, and that was all it took. Lorelai Gilmore stood in front of Luke Danes, a man who she'd been circling for years, and she listened as he revealed feelings for her. She watched as he showed uncertainty, backed away when he showed intent, and finally, returned the kiss that he'd been so bold as to initiate.

She felt blindsided by the effect of his kiss. She acknowledged the good. Had no choice since the good was just too good to ignore. That inexplicable delightful coursing sensation had her going in for a second kiss before her hyperactive brain waves could level out.

The second kiss only reaffirmed the first. It was no accidental spark, by any means.

Then, Kirk happened, Rory happened, and to top off both those catastrophes, Luke's sister and brother-in-law got into a car accident. So, yeah, that happened, too. Luke took off for the better part of two months to help them with their livelihood. He left before he and Lorelai ever got to discuss the kiss face-to-face.

When he returned, they met up, exchanged brief and somewhat awkward conversation, locked eyes, and moved in for kiss number three. A band appeared from nowhere and scared them back to their starting positions. Disappointed, they nervously made vague but definite plans to meet up later.

Lorelai returned to the Dragonfly and Luke to the diner.

As Lorelai gaily moved from one task to the next in her recently opened but still, wildly popularly inn, she didn't take notice of the newest person to arrive until he'd snuck up on her.

He squeezed her sides and made her jump in surprise. She turned around quickly and heard his laughter as soon as her eyes landed on him.

"Any chance you still recognize me or have I become too small-time for you and your mini Hilton empire?"

Lorelai smiled big. "Well, I'd think the father of my one and only child would be a little hard to forget." He nodded, showed how much he liked the honor. "When we start turning a profit, _then_ you'll have to make an appointment, offer up a sacrifice, and kiss the ring to get face time."

Christopher's larger than life smile only grew. He spread his arms and looked around. "I gotta tell ya, Lor, I'm impressed."

"Already? I haven't even shown you the indoor plumbing yet!"

"Guess you went upscale, then."

"Well, you know. Watchin' 'em bald the trees and dig holes out back lost its appeal during the test run."

With laughter, Christopher moved in to give her a hug. "Good to see you. As usual, you look great."

Lorelai returned the hug. "You too, Chris." She pulled away. "You know, I actually forgot about our lunch today," she stated apologetically. "Been a crazy couple of days." Luke danced across her mind and she briefly thought of their interrupted kiss.

"So, you invited me here then forgot about me? _That_ feels good."

She laughed. "I'm all about second chances, though. I have a couple things to finish up, and then I'm all yours. I'll give you a quick tour and then we'll hunker down in the dining room and give Sookie a chance to show off. Sound good?"

"I'm game." He pointed off to the side. "Should I just shadow you or…?"

Lorelai smiled and directed him to an area filled with books. "Go stimulate your mind and I'll be back before you know it."

He nodded and moved away. "I'll assume you have something that appeals to my level of sophistication over here…" he stated prudently.

"Oh, yes, of course." She looked around him and pointed out a specific spot. "_Where's Waldo_ book series is in the corner."

Christopher nodded with approval and turned on his heel with an air of superiority that made Lorelai laugh.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Finally done with work, Lorelai happily showed her oldest friend around the inn and then led him over to a dining table that'd been reserved for the two of them.

Seated, Christopher could barely stay focused on the menu. He hadn't stopped marveling over all that Lorelai had managed to accomplish. In his honest opinion, she was nothing short of amazing. "So, how sappy would it sound if I told you I was proud of you?" he asked as he leaned on the table toward her.

Lorelai smiled and leaned in as well. "Omigod, sooo sappy," she playfully expressed.

"Well, I _am_," he revealed anyway.

"Thanks, Chris," she replied intimately as she met his endearing gaze.

They stared across the table at one another for extended seconds. Chris smiled. He was the one to break the silence.

"I, uh, think you were just trying to talk me into ordering Sookie's pork chops," he reminded.

Lorelai laughed softly and dropped her eyes to her menu. "Yes, I was," she responded distractedly.

He watched her for a moment. Felt familiar, good feelings surface as he noticed how she seemed to lose herself around him. He always wondered if a day would come that that wouldn't happen. He definitely had no anticipation toward it. A naughty smile came across his face before he was leaning in again. "Or we could uh…"

Lorelai lifted only her eyes and looked at him. She smiled when met with a look that, in the past, had gotten her in all sorts of trouble with him. "We could what, Christopher?" she asked composedly.

"We could…" His eyebrows rose in a lewd and absurd manner. The way he did it made it clear the approach was strictly for laughs. He chuckled when he saw Lorelai cock her head and give him a warning with her eyes that didn't seem the least bit serious. "We could uh…look at the drink selection," he finished appropriately.

Lorelai stared into his smiling eyes with hers. "Good idea," she agreed after a moment. He winked, grinning madly. She bit her lip, cleared her throat, and finally looked down again. "Um, let's see here…"

"Have I told you how great you look?"

She didn't dare look up. "Yes. And I told you how great you look, and now we're focusing on how great the food in this menu is going to look," she said divertingly.

"You did something different with your hair."

"Mmhm. Staying away from that _There's Something About Mary_ first date hair care line really gave it the free-flowing bounce it'd been missing."

"Ahh, I knew it was something."

Lorelai shook her head, still smiling. After a few seconds, she could still feel his eyes on her so she looked up and sure enough, he was focused on her. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"You're staring at me."

"You just…get more beautiful every time I see you."

She rolled her eyes. "Christopher, I'm starving," she stressed. "Let's order and eat for now. And then, afterwards we can sit around with our distended bellies and argue over which one of us has gotten prettier since we've last seen one another, okay?"

He grinned. "Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay, let's eat."

She sighed and picked up her menu with a contented smile. "So, how do those pork chops sound to you?"

He nodded. "Pretty good, actu-" Lorelai lowered her menu at his pause. She followed his gaze toward the entryway to the dining room. "—ally," he finished slowly as he watched a vaguely familiar man appear closer to where they sat. He'd seen him enter but he'd been keeping his distance up until then so he hadn't given him much thought.

As he came closer, Christopher's eyes went to Lorelai in question. She was immediately on alert. "Luke, hey!" she greeted in surprise, her back now straighter than an arrow as she looked on the verge of standing.

Luke nodded. Eyes went from her to Chris to the table. His jaw tensed and he looked down. "Hey," he answered, terse. While he appeared to be headed in their direction, he instead veered off and started towards the kitchen.

Lorelai erected herself even more, opened her mouth to question, but he answered before she could. "Picking up something from Sookie," he explained.

"Oh, okay, um…should I…?"

He kept walking while looking back at her with stiffened shoulders. "No, just…stay," he ordered gruffly. Lorelai eased back down and didn't lift her eyes from him. His jaw tensed again as he looked at her from across the room. Her worried gaze didn't shy away from his, which seemed capable of cutting through metal. He turned around just in time to keep from mowing down a waiter. "Sorry." He sidestepped the young server and tossed only a glance back to Lorelai before he disappeared into the kitchen.

Lorelai remained looking at the swinging door. She replayed events. Replayed all that he could've witnessed. Her eyes flitted to her companion, and she determined that the simple presence of her ex was what rattled him.

Christopher smiled. "Doesn't like to talk much, does he?"

She picked up her menu with uncertainty. Pushed her hair behind her ears as she looked at the door again. Really didn't know if she needed to head into the kitchen where he was.

"He's kind of a friend of yours right? You can go say 'hey' if you like. I can wait here," Christopher suggested airily.

Lorelai offered a smile that only a select few had ever been able to see through. "Why don't we order?" She looked at her watch. "I actually have an interview set up at three, and I don't want to push it."

"No problem." He picked up his menu but paused. "Are you okay?"

She knocked her napkin to the floor. Leaned down to get it. "What?" she asked, not having heard him. He repeated his question, and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm great."

With hesitancy and a wee bit of amusement, he asked, "You sure?"

"Mmhm. Why?"

"You're all jittery and weird."

Lorelai's eyes went straight from his to the kitchen door as it opened again. Luke came out carrying a large cluster of tomatoes, which Lorelai had listened to Sookie boast about all morning. He lowered the sack to his side and looked down at his shoes as he walked. His strides were so long it seemed it'd only take him five or so steps to reach the entrance.

Again, Lorelai automatically did the half-sit, half-stand motion that she'd nervously done before. "Luke, are you uh-" He was almost a blur as he whizzed by their table. She abandoned the question she figured he wouldn't have stayed around for anyway. "O-okay, uh, bye!"

She dropped back into her seat and frowned a little as he seemed to ignore her entirely. He made it to the door, opened it, and threw a few fingers over his shoulder as his adios. It'd have felt better had he stuck to the out-and-out neglect as far as she was concerned.

Christopher broke the silence with a soft snort and low words. "Definitely not a talker." He looked at Lorelai. "Is he always like that?"

Staring at the second door Luke had virtually closed in her face, she shook her head, no, and in the next second, took a deep breath and pulled her chair closer to the table. "Let's, um…let's order."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Unable to wait the few seconds it'd take to get inside, Lorelai began to squint and peer through the diner's blinds the moment she'd made it to the front of the building. She spotted Luke standing at the table right by the door, pouring coffee into Patty's mug.

She went inside and immediately backed away when Luke took a huge blind backwards step in her direction, the bell obviously not enough to alert him of a presence in the space. She wasn't quick enough. She'd slipped on a pair of flip-flops before leaving the inn, and her pedicured toe ended up under his heavy black boot.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Pain shot up her leg but her calm and dainty cry almost suggested a slight discomfort only. Luke looked over his shoulder. "Trapped toe, Luke! Trapped toe!" she continued desperately, adding a frantic tap to his shoulder to point out the urgency.

He lifted his foot immediately and stepped to the side, finally realizing what he'd done. "Sorry!" he issued with both surprise and remorse. Both he and Lorelai looked down at her foot.

Lorelai whimpered at the sight. Nail polish had been scraped from her big toe.

"Jeez, Lorelai."

"Great, now they have to trade jobs. This little piggy sure can't go to the market now that it's all unkempt and _crippled_," she ended emphatically, shooting Luke a playful look of contempt.

He gestured around her. "What the hell were you doing standing right behind me?" he barked.

She gasped. "I had just come in the door!"

"And you couldn't clear out of the way when you saw me backing up?" he fumed irrationally.

"Oh…well I must have…left my Fizzy Lifting Drink in my other purse. Gravity can be a bitch without it, you know. I didn't hurt the heel of your _all-weather,_ _steel-made _boot, did I? Could I interest you in a napkin to wipe my blood stains from the sole?"

"Jeez," he muttered. He held a coffee pot. He took a small step back but remained steady as Lorelai's hand rested on his shoulder for balance. She stood on one foot as she waited for relief in the other.

"You know," Patty began with sympathy as she looked down at the hovering foot. "If it helps, I learned through experience that the more ruggedly handsome the offender, the easier it is to forgive and forget." She pointed to Luke and offered Lorelai a conspiratorial smile. "His chances aren't too bad, are they?"

Lorelai and Luke exchanged a look. Lorelai smiled. "Well, now that you mention it…"

Luke rolled his eyes and carefully turned with her hand still on his shoulder. He did that before she could finish talking. "Come on," he instructed gruffly as he led a hobbling Lorelai over to the stools.

Though her toe throbbed, she didn't need help walking. Still, she kept her hand in place and followed him over, whimpering and moaning after each step taken. He stopped near an open stool and allowed her to hop from his rear to the cushiony seat that he stared at with impatience. When she sat, he shook his head and went around the counter.

"If you milk that any more, you're gonna have a new trade as a farmhand."

She smiled. "Too much?"

He wiped a mug down with a towel, and didn't look at her once. "Way too much," he answered plainly.

She wiggled her toe continuously as she placed the heels of both feet on the metal bar of the stool. "Well, I just wanted to be sure I smeared that guilt in good. That's the least I can do for my toe that's hanging on by a tendons."

"I told you I was sorry. What else can I do?" he asked moodily. He shoved the mug on the countertop.

Lorelai realized quickly that she'd taken him as far as he was willing to go on the lighthearted subject of her injury. "Sorry. I'm done. Officially."

He held the pot over the mug. "Coffee, right?"

She nodded while looking at him. "Right," she answered in keeping. Blindly, she anchored the mug using all fingers and felt the warmth of her favorite liquid as he poured.

His jaw muscles danced. Appeared to be an unconscious twitch. He filled her mug, turned away with the pot, then turned back with his order pad. "Want anything else?"

Lorelai still stared at him. She didn't say anything at first, in hopes that her silence would prompt him to look at her. He hadn't since he'd backed into her at the door. He looked up after a few moments. His twitching jaw was finally rigid. Lorelai smiled a bit. Tenderly met his eyes with hers.

Luke blinked casually and looked away. Looked everywhere she wasn't. "How about a burger?"

Lorelai looked from his eyes and over her shoulder. She, of course, didn't expect to see anyone, but she made a show of it before focusing on him again. She found him looking at her without patience. He already knew what she was about to say before she opened her mouth.

"Was that question directed at me or…? Because I'm right here, and you were looking all the way over…" Her voice and smile faded away at his expression. She sighed.

He rolled his eyes to punctuate his dissension. "Burger, it is," he stated and scribbled it down.

She nodded at the food selection though she wasn't hungry. "Can we talk?" she asked quieter.

His jaw started jumping again. "Why?" he asked with indifference.

"Luke." He looked at her. "Can we please go somewhere to talk?" she asked again.

"Now?"

"Please."

He sighed and dropped his pad. "Sure, why not?" he mumbled. Moody and reluctant as ever, his instinct still led him around the counter to Lorelai's side to help her into the back. She laid her hand on his arm as she got to her feet and then reluctantly told him the truth that she was okay to walk alone.

He tossed his hands up like it didn't matter to him one way or the other. He moved ahead, leaving her to follow.

Lorelai trailed him and silently questioned his journey past both the storage room and upstairs. He headed toward a backroom that she had never before entered. She made it inside the curtain-shielded room a few seconds after he did.

It was a small laundry room, just 100 square feet. To one side sat a cart that held food-stained aprons, towels, and rags. Side-by-side a few feet away sat the most basic forms of washer and dryer. The white paint-chipped room was olden, yet tidy and smelled heavily of fabric softener. A small prison-style window brought in light from the alleyway.

Lorelai closed the curtain to the room and then looked to Luke to make sure he held no objections to the gesture. Arms folded, he just stood near the window sweeping the floor with his eyes.

She walked further into the room, and while looking at him avoid eye contact with her, she chose a spot against the dryer. She leaned her bottom against the machine for only a brief second before smoothly hoisting herself on top. She still watched Luke. Hoped he'd fall into character and yell at her to get down before the old, worn appliance became dented. He didn't.

"So…what'd you want to talk about?" he asked as he finally looked at her. There was a downhearted look in his eyes.

Lorelai tried to ignore it. "This room seems bleak. A little depressing. Trying to set the tone for our chat?" she asked with a small wink.

He shifted. "Light's out in the storage room. Keep forgetting to buy light bulbs."

"Oh." She paused. "Well, what are you doing when you need to get something out of it?"

"Flashlight," he answered curtly.

"Oh," she said again. "Guess it helps that you know where everything is, huh? Otherwise, it may take a while to locate stuff."

"Yeah, guess so," he replied, now clearly annoyed.

Lorelai looked down into her lap. "So much for small talk," she said quietly. After a moment, she closed her eyes, sighed, and finally met his eyes. "I had lunch with Christopher today," she revealed steadfast.

"No kidding," he followed monotonously.

She went on. "I invited him a week ago. Just because I hadn't seen him in a while, and he wanted to check out the inn and everything. So, it was just, you know, the two of us chatting and hanging out, and just…catching up." She paused, gave him time to say something if he wanted to, but continued a few seconds later when he didn't. "I probably would've told you about it, but honestly, until he showed up at the inn, I'd forgotten about it completely."

His jaw began vibrating again, but his tone was calm and carefree when he responded to all that with a simple, "okay."

There were long seconds where she just looked at him. "Okay?"

He didn't say anything.

Feeling frustrated, Lorelai kindly spoke about it. "Okay means that you're fine with everything. Okay means that you're capable of talking to me sans bluntness. Okay means that you can actually _look_ at me, Luke."

He met her eyes reluctantly. The part of him that provided ongoing protection against heartbreak had to work doubly hard when Lorelai Gilmore was involved. Instead of brushing off all of her questions and concerns as planned, he stood there helplessly as his guard was punctured with ease.

"What do you mean, you _probably_ would've told me?" he asked, trying his hardest to sound apathetic.

She didn't appear to understand. "If I had remembered that Christopher was coming, I probably would have-"

"No, I heard you," he interrupted. "But _probably_ means that there's a chance you wouldn't have told me, too, right?"

She thought about that momentarily. Smiled. "Well, the chances are good that I would have," she asserted in a joking manner.

Luke didn't crack a smile. He rolled his eyes, shrugged, seemed to dismiss her. "Okay."

Lorelai sighed. "We're back to _okay_?"

"Apparently so. We done here?"

Quietly, jadedly, she answered him. "No…Luke, we're not done. We're not even a little done. If they served us, we'd probably kill someone."

"What exactly do you want me to say?" he asked irritably.

"I want you to be honest with me about how you're feeling right now. Because I really think there's a chance you may be taking this whole thing the wrong way."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Correction. _Definitely_ taking things the wrong way."

He rolled his eyes. "Listen, I know we're not…" He looked around, unable to find the right words. His skin flushed as he looked back to her. "…we just started this and everything," he ended. "But I do think I probably shoulda, ya know, been…made aware of you having lunch with your ex," he concluded uncomfortably.

She tilted her head to look at him. "Really?" she asked with curiosity.

He frowned. "Really what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I just didn't think…I g-guess I didn't see it that way."

"You mean you didn't see _me_ that way…" he gathered.

"No, that's not what I meant. Of course, I see you that way. I've been seeing you _that way_ all summer long. I was counting the days that you got back so that I could see you _that way_ in person." She glanced at him. Her revelation didn't get much of a reaction, and she didn't fully expect that it would, given the nature of the squabble. "When I invited him to the inn, I really didn't think that was something I'd need _permission_ to-"

"Don't put words in my mouth! I'm not trying to tell you what to do here, Lorelai. This is about me being blindsided."

"Blindsided?" she questioned.

"Yes! I didn't expect to walk in and see you having this private lunch with your ex two minutes after I get back in town. I mean, where the hell did he even come from? He's gone like 99 percent of the time, and…" He gestured grandly, "As soon as it looks like I may_—just may_—be getting a shot here, here he comes just—his presence isn't exactly comforting!"

"Luke, come on. You have no idea how crazy this sounds."

"You're right. I don't. It's perfectly normal to have secret lunches with exes and keep it from…" He shifted uncomfortably, "…people...you…kissed," he ended, unable to come up with a label on such short notice.

"I wasn't keeping anything hidden. I told you I forgot," she said rationally. "But regardless of that, it was just lunch with a friend, and that's _it_."

He stared at the floor. "It was lunch with Chris."

"Why does that matter?" she asked with a shrug.

He looked up. "Why do you even have to ask me that? I've known you a long time, Lorelai. I'm not just Joe Blow coming in this completely clueless. Chris is not just _an_ ex. He's _the_ ex." He placed his hands on his hips. "And do you even know how much of your conversation I heard?"

She shook her head. "That doesn't matter, either. You could've been sitting at the table dressed in your cloak of invisibility and it wouldn't change anything. Do you seriously think I'd do something to hurt you?"

"Do you _know_ how much of your conversation I heard?" he repeated.

"No, Luke, I don't know," she finally answered directly. She let her mind wander back for a moment to that afternoon. "But based on the way you're acting, it's something that was taken fifteen different ways out of context."

He gestured at her. "Sure, make me into the jealous, irrational idiot. That's great."

"That's not what I'm doing," she said softly. "I'm just trying to get you to understand how absurd this whole thing is."

"Jeez." He turned away, and then turned back in the next second. Revealed dejectedly, "You guys were flirting, Lorelai."

She shook her head. "No-"

"Yes, you were," he disputed without raising his voice. He went on with a great revulsion for the whole reenactment. "You look _great; no, you look great!" _He looked away and muttered under his breath angrily for a few seconds. Hands went down to his sides then back on his hips as he gave the floor his attention again.

Lorelai wasn't jumping to fill the silence with claims of misunderstandings as she had done before. He saw that as a bad sign.

He went on after a lengthy silence. "And then it was just…you staring across the table at him. Just…staring like…like…" He took a heavy breath. Eyes rose to the wall and finally went over to her. "I half-expected a noodle to appear out of nowhere and for both of you to just start slurping on the ends of it."

Lorelai stared at him soberly. Didn't even think of poking fun at the _Lady and the Tramp_ reference. Luke could see her wheels turning. Could almost process the different levels of rationales that were forming and entwining to make everything less unsightly. The fact that her quick mind wasn't quick enough to do that without the moment of silence said more than she ever could.

When she spoke, Luke was surprised at the direction she took.

"What were you doing at the inn?"

The question wasn't accusatory or mistrustful. She just wanted to know.

Confusion, questions, and pain still present, no outlet in sight, Luke still managed to answer her with composure. "Sookie," he replied. "She called me about some tomatoes that she was obviously having a conniption over. Told me I had to come try 'em."

Lorelai nodded. "And you actually came?" She smiled. "You, who wouldn't walk a few feet to my table to check out my Gilbert Gottfried scrambled egg look-a-like?"

"I was in the middle of a rush, Lorelai," he grumpily recalled. "And your weird shaped eggs weren't on my list of priorities."

"So hard to believe you came all the way across town for some tomatoes I'm sure you couldn't have cared less about."

Luke snapped. "Of course I didn't care about those! Why would I leave the diner during the busiest time of day to pick up tomatoes I didn't need? Sookie called, so I went. I went to see _you_." He rolled his eyes. "That goes without saying."

Lorelai took a breath and hopped down from the dryer. She walked over and stopped within a foot of him. Stuck her hands in the pockets of her pants and looked up into his eyes.

"Luke, I honestly don't know what I could say to fix what you thought you saw today."

"What I _did_ see," he corrected undeterred.

"Whatever it is, it's a misunderstanding, and it needs to be cleared up. The way I see it, I can stand here until I'm hoarse telling you how I don't feel a certain way about Chris. But countless disappointments from the man in question taught me a long time ago that words don't mean much." Her eyes didn't leave his once. "Unfortunately, though, that's all I've got to work with right now. So, ask me. Ask me anything you want to, and I'll answer it like I'm under oath in the Supreme Court." She paused, scanned his vulnerable eyes. "Ask me who I dream about. Ask me who I spend my days thinking about, Luke. Just ask me." Her voice went quieter. A smile appeared and her eyes turned thirsty, sultry. She gave Luke bedroom eyes for the very first time in the laundry room of his restaurant. "Triple X fantasies. Ask me about my one and only co-star. Yes, capital _X, X, X_. Ask me for a name."

Luke flushed, lowered his eyes. Still didn't bend, as many men would have. "Lorelai-" he began in protest.

She took a step and closed in on him. Her bold eyes seemed to devour him. "Ask. Me," she ordered intimately.

Luke felt his blood rush low, and he put more space between them. "This isn't about that, alright?"

She stayed in place and took in the few feet that now divided them. She avoided his eyes for a moment. "Well. I suppose it isn't," she responded. "I kinda thought it was pretty important, though," she finished with a self-conscious smile.

He backed up until he was able to lean against the wall. He sighed appreciatively at the clarity in his head now that Lorelai wasn't in his immediate space. "It is," he reassured in thought. "It's just that I learned through experience not to bank on it," he concluded sagely.

She stared at him. "I'm just trying to tell you how I feel about you, Luke."

He met her eyes, no anger. "I know that…and it's good to know you have those thoughts about me. But I can't have you be with me, while having him in the back of your head. I mean…that's what happened with you and Max, right?"

Caught off guard, she froze before stating, "That's not fair."

"But is it accurate?"

She took a defensive stance. "You're getting all this from a stupid lunch?"

"Well, certain things from that _stupid lunch_ opened my eyes. It's only so long that I can stay propped up on that damn cloud anyway. I'd rather acknowledge this stuff now than later," he ended sullenly.

"This is…ridiculous," she proclaimed, feeling attacked.

He continued quietly. "Right now, my worst fear is to start something with you, fall for you even more… if that's possible, and then have you wake up one day, realizing I'm not Christopher and start freaking out on me."

"That's not going to happen."

"You can't say that for sure, can you?"

"Since I'm the one being accused of this phantom future freak out, I'm certain I can!"

"Look, you didn't see what I saw toda-"

"I don't care what you saw! All day I've been thinking of how happy I am to finally have you back. After all of the letdowns and endless rescheduling you had to do, you're finally here. After seven weeks, I can see you and actually _touch_ you. _That's_ what I care about, Luke. _That's_ where my focus has been."

Silence. Luke looked down at the floor, and Lorelai looked at him, waiting for him to come back with more accusations, which she was quickly starting to take to heart.

"All of that stuff you said before…about having a co-star and all of that…" He paused, made sure not to look at her, "…I can relate, you know."

Lorelai crossed her arms. Felt herself soften as she looked down. "You might want to start with that next time." He smiled a little. She looked up just in time to catch it. More silence. She swayed a bit, appeared shy, and then finally took a tentative step in his direction. "I need you to understand how much I missed you. While you were gone, I missed you so much."

He met her eyes. "Same here."

She smiled and inched over some more. "Honest?"

He nodded. Spoke like his words weren't as significant as they were. "Seven weeks or seven hours, when you're not there, I miss you. That's nothing new for me."

Steps more pronounced, she walked right up to him and laid her hands on his chest. Slid them to his sides in a show of affection. Her eyes bounced between his as she said quietly, "In the interest of full disclosure, that is hands down the most perfect and dangerous thing you could've said just now."

He looked down unsurely as his hands went to the sides of her stomach. Hers slid back up his body, and she stepped closer. Her soft utterance of, "Finally" made his eyes go back to hers. Her light breaths hit his chin as she pushed him into the wall more. "Let's see a parade break this up."

Luke closed his eyes as he felt her hand caress his ear and slide back. Felt his mind go blank. She moved in. Their lips met in what had to be the softest and most intimate kiss of its kind. Neither seemed in a rush to clip it. Long seconds later, Luke felt Lorelai's tongue at his lower lip and a gentle tug from her teeth.

He pulled away. "I gotta go," he said huskily and moved around her before she had her eyes open. "We'll…uh…" He ran the back of his hand roughly across his mouth. "We'll talk later," he finished as he almost sprinted toward the exit.

Lorelai turned and watched him, mouth open. She was shocked to see him actually leave the room. "Is he kidding?" she asked aloud to no one. She stared at the curtain and expected to see him reenter. That naïveté left when she heard his irritated, bellowing voice yell at Kirk for hovering over someone who was dining in his favorite seat.

Lorelai scoffed, folded her arms, and shuffled over to the doorway. "Glad to know that I've still got it," she muttered with a roll of her eyes.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Fifty-seven, fifty-ei-"

"No, no, no! That was fifty-eight, making this one fifty-nine! Will you _please_ pay attention? I do not want to be here all night!"

Lorelai sighed and dropped the small bar of soap in with the others. "Michel, it's late, I have a headache, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd make use of your indoor voice."

He angrily pushed aside the tiny shampoos he was counting, frustrated that he had lost count again thanks to her. "I wish you'd concentrate, Lorelai. Counting is not supposed to be this complicated. It's addition! Sookie's child could do it, and all he does is drool and cause unbearable room odors!"

"We're almost done here. Relax."

He turned back to the shelf. "Once again!" he announced peevishly. "_One, two, three_…" he counted, pushing the bottles to one side.

Lorelai continued counting silently for several seconds before she gave up and put all soaps back onto the shelf. "Why don't we just call it a night," she suggested. "I'll finish up tomorrow when I come in."

Michel stopped and looked around. "Why would we do that? We don't have very much more to go," he pointed out.

She shrugged. "Fine, have at it. I'm going home." She turned and looked all over a different part of the shelf, appearing to search for something. Michel watched questioningly.

"If you're leaving, then I'm leaving," he threatened.

She barely paid him any attention. "Wasn't that my idea first?" she asked simply.

He sighed, incensed. "What is with you tonight anyway? You're off your game, and it's throwing me off mine. And why are you leaving when we haven't finished?" he fired at her.

"Because I'm tired," she answered without elaboration. She began looking on another shelf.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked in his most uninviting voice. He'd never want it to get out that he actually cared about Lorelai and Sookie.

"Mmhm," she answered from where she was now stooped down. "And that something's name is Michel Gerard. Any ideas on how to get rid of my nuisance?"

He stepped back from the shelf. "What are you doing?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" She spotted what she was looking for and pulled two out. Michel's eyes were on the items as she erected herself.

"What are you doing with those light bulbs? I've already counted them."

She moved around him. "So, subtract two, and there you go."

He watched her exit the stock room, and became none too happy that she was really calling it quits for the night. "Where are you going?" he screeched.

Lorelai kept walking toward her office. "I already told you. Home. Now, cool it with all the questions. You sound like the annoying neighbor kid on _Home Alone_."

"But what about inventory? We always do it together!" he yelled after her.

"Goodnight, Michel. I'll see you tomorrow."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai approached the diner. It was close to eleven, so she wasn't even sure it'd still be open when she left the inn. The lights were on, though. She wondered if Luke had turned in, leaving Caesar to close. The blinds were drawn, offering no insight to that fleeting query.

She knocked on the glass.

"We're closed," she heard Luke's booming voice yell from inside.

"I know," she said, just loud enough to be heard. The town had shut down close to two hours prior, so the only outside sound came from her. She was hesitant to talk too loud. Plus, her and Luke's earlier meeting in his laundry room had surely added its fair share of stress to her mind and body, so her vitality had taken a big hit for the day. "It's me, Lorelai. Can you open up just for a sec?"

Luke's shadow fell upon the blinds as he walked over to the door. Lorelai backed away. He undid locks and had the door open in no time.

Their eyes met immediately, and they both shied away just as fast.

Luke cleared his throat. "Hey," he greeted quietly.

Lorelai smiled. Held up a small brown paper bag. "Brought a couple light bulbs from the inn." Surprised, his wide eyes went to the bag. "I don't know if you found time to run to the store or not, but…I was doing inventory, and I remembered that you were in need, so…" She extended the bag to him.

His eyes went back to her as he slowly took it. "Thanks." He seemed speechless for a moment before he added with stutters, "And uh, no, I-I haven't been to the—to the store. So, thanks. Definitely."

Her eyes floated back to his only for a moment. "No problem," she followed softly with a shrug.

Luke crinkled the bag nervously in his hands as silence fell upon them. "I would ask…if you wanted to come in for coffee, but um…"

She jumped in at his pause. "No, I'm okay. I'm headed home anyway. It's late."

He nodded. "Yeah. I was gonna say."

They were back to avoiding eyes at that point. But Lorelai boldly met his eyes without forethought. Words still came out unsure and quiet. "I'll just see you tomorrow. A-and we can probably talk…because…we need to talk."

Luke swallowed. "Yeah," he agreed fast. "Of course."

She sighed softly. Seemed satisfied that she'd gotten through that. "Alright, I'll see ya."

He watched her thoughtfully. Just nodded his okay before she turned and walked to the jeep with haste.

Luke waited until she started the engine before he went back inside. His mind a mess of thoughts, he temporarily forgot about the bag in his hand. He stopped at the counter, unfolded the bag, and retrieved what was inside. He spent seconds looking at it before he headed into the storage room to replace the burnt out bulb.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai backed down the steps of the Dragonfly. She faced Sookie who was questioning her endlessly to make sure everything was handled right while she was gone.

"And what if they're allergic to shrimp?"

"Then keep them away from the docks," she answered wittily.

"I'm serious! The Maggios are our most important guests to date, Lorelai. I can't mess this up!"

"Honey, you'll do fine."

"What if I don't?"

"You will. All you have to do is keep watch over things until I get back and handle the culinary part, which you could do in your sleep. They'll be here in half an hour, and Michel will take care of them. I've briefed him on how not to turn this into a Focker-like experience, and as a special treat, he even took the liberty of showering me with his day's assemblage of backbiting." Her eyes widened with delight. "So, I'm somewhat hopeful that there's very little left for the guests!"

"My, aren't you the optimistic one today," Sookie beamed in earnest.

Lorelai lifted her brows pompously and then in a contradictory fashion, took a steadying breath. "All you need is a little faith that things will work out. You say it's going to be a good day, and it just might be one."

"Yeah, unless you leave me in charge," she brooded. "The kitchen is my territory! Why would you try to expand my territory without warning? The rest of the inn is _your_ territory. We can't just go switching things up all spur of the moment!"

Lorelai smiled. "Everything will be fine. With you and…hopefully with me too," she added offhandedly.

Sookie grew weary. "What are you _talking_ about?" she asked.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She started backing away again. "Just don't panic. There's a chance that I may be back before they arrive anyway. Regardless, you've got it in the bag, babe."

"Are you sure you can't just move this thing of yours back an hour or two?" she yelled to her. "I hear that when things are later, they're…like ten times better. Wouldn't you prefer a ten times better thing?" she stammered causing Lorelai to laugh.

"I'd _love_ a ten times better thing! Unfortunately, though, my thing is only free at this time. I've learned that '_things'_ get off on being ill-timed, and this one is no different. Either it happens now or I have to wait until tonight, and I need it to happen like _yesterday_."

Sookie's pleading look turned to one of confusion, and then one of suspicion. "Tell me you're not talking about sex right now…"

Lorelai laughed softly. "I'm not talking about sex," she reassured. "I'm talking about peace of mind," she ended with a smooth transition into solemnity.

Sookie took a breath. "Well, for the love of God, find your peace of mind _quickly_ and get back here!"

Lorelai nodded, winked. "I'll do my best."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Luke stood at the bottom of the stairs in Lorelai's yard.

She pulled up in her jeep and seemed unable to take her eyes from him. She didn't expect to see him there already, number one. Two, he had on his fancy bank clothes and looked all kinds of handsome. And thirdly, she wanted to see if she could determine what he was thinking since patience had never been her thing.

After watching her pull into the yard, Luke had casually taken to staring at his shoes. That's what he was doing when Lorelai approached.

"Wow, you really do clean up good, don't you?" she complimented coolly.

He looked up at her. Smiled a tired smile. "I have some business to take care of today," he explained, though he'd already divulged that to her when they'd spoken on the phone to set up the get-together.

She nodded at the information anyway. "Want to head inside?" she asked as she took a step toward the porch.

"Yeah, sure." He followed her in.

Lorelai took off her jacket and hung it up. Luke still stood near her. She looked up into his eyes. Smiled as they nervously made then held eye contact for a short moment. "Do you want me to…?" She pointed to his jacket and then to the coat rack.

He looked down at himself, hands in pockets. "Um…" he began in consideration, "No, I think I'm okay. Thanks."

"Are you sure? It's a bit warm in here, and I wouldn't want you to-" She paused as she saw him shrug as if that wouldn't affect him. "Unless," she continued impartially, "you don't plan on being here very long…which probably isn't a good sign."

He diverted his eyes. "Well, you have to get back to the inn anyway, right? You have that big shot guest to worry about."

"I have time," she assured, tone clipped.

He met her eyes, his wide. "I do, too," he followed somewhat defensively.

She looked away, ran her hand through her hair as she turned. "We should probably sit."

His rubber-soled shoes made little noise on the hardwood as he followed her over to the couch. Her silver slingbacks echoed across the floor. Luke's eyes followed the sound and ended up going straight to her legs, her calves. He found it difficult to look away and actually felt relief when she made it around the couch and unknowingly took away the view.

Luke crossed into the living room and came to a stop shortly after she did.

She sat. Crossed her legs. Closed her eyes peacefully for a moment as she tossed her hair. During that moment, Luke involuntarily snuck another peek at her legs that seemed to have no stopping point whatsoever. She opened her eyes and stared down at the table as she took a breath. Luke picked another point of focus in the room.

She looked over casually to where he stood. Not sat, but _stood_. At the very end of the coffee table, hands still in pockets.

She sat on the words before speaking them. She seemed to have already resigned herself to the answer. "This isn't going to go very well, is it?"

He paused. "What do you mean?"

"This discussion," she answered quietly. "You're giving me a bad vibe here."

He looked down.

She did too. Ended up feeling all sorts of emotions attacking at once. "Damn it, Luke, why didn't you just tell me this over the phone?" she questioned in a peaceful, disappointed manner.

"And that would have gone well?" he asked with doubt.

Depleted, she answered, "No. It would have sucked. But…at least I could have hung up on you. Faked going through a tunnel or something….you know, _before_ you got to the part that made me want to gorge on _**Häagen**_**-**_**Dazs**_ until I bled milk." She shielded her eyes as she ran a finger over her eyebrow.

He looked over at her. "I haven't even said anything yet," he said quietly.

Lorelai dropped her hand, and Luke breathed a sigh of relief at seeing dry eyes. "Fine, you have the floor," she announced with a passive wave.

The hurt look in her eyes took away everything he'd planned to say. "I'm sorry," he said instead.

She stared at him for the longest moment. He stared back. "I am too," she finally replied as a simple admission. He blinked, looked down. Looked back up at her when she went on. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the lunch. And I'm sorry for whatever you _thought_ you saw between Christopher and me. And I'm sorry for my inability to get you to believe me when I say that there's nothing between us. And most importantly, if you're really going to stand there and tell me that you just…_change your mind_ about you and me, then I'm incredibly sorry that I ever let you kiss me or that I kissed you because there is no way in hell I can come back from that."

He rolled his eyes, perturbed. "Look, this isn't an easy decision for me, okay?"

His words sparked more her frustration. "What is your decision exactly? Just so there's no misunderstanding."

He fidgeted in the spot he stood in. "I think we should probably just be friends…"

Lorelai scoffed, looked away. "Great," she whispered.

He swallowed. "Don't you want to know why?"

She hopped up. "I know why! We talked about it yesterday, Luke! We talked about this _in-depth_ yesterday. I told you where I was in this whole thing, and obviously, it meant nothing to you. How could you just toss me aside so easily? I mean, if nothing else, I thought we were friends!"

"Of course we're friends!"

"Friends give each other the benefit of the doubt! Where's mine?"

"I listened to what you had to say, Lorelai. I listened and I _heard_ you-"

"_Did_ you?"

"Yes. I did," he answered in a stabilizing tone. "And I think you're being honest with me. I really do. But that doesn't mean anything if there's the tiniest chance that you're not being honest with yourself."

"Oh, okay. I'm _lying_ to myself now. How insightful. What exactly am I _lying_ to myself about, Luke?"

He tightened his jaw. Didn't respond to her condescension. "I know what I'm talking about, okay?" He paused. "I did it with you," he admitted tensely.

Lorelai's truculence wore off in an instant. "What?"

The topic put him on edge. "I did it with you," he repeated more openly. "With Rachel and with Nicole. They both left because I couldn't commit to them. Why? Because they weren't you. And I refused to see any of that. So, I broke their hearts and who knows how many more women would've had to go through the same thing had I not woken up."

His words settled in the room.

"Well, here I am," she replied softly. "I'm here. And I want this to happen."

He rejected the tingle that came with her heartfelt words. "It's not right, though. It's not supposed to happen like this."

"Like what, Luke? Me telling you that I want you and _meaning it_? Is that how it's 'not supposed to happen'?"

Luke finally rooted himself, stopped fidgeting. He took a heavy breath. "Listen, if you can tell me of one relationship—any relationship—where you didn't have Christopher in the back of your mind, I'll say to hell with this. You can forget everything I said about just being friends, and we can do this. The whole thing." He locked eyes with her. "Because I'll know that I at least have a chance. Just give me one name, Lorelai. One guy in the last eighteen years that didn't have a timer over his head because he wasn't Rory's dad."

Lorelai stared at him in silence.

Luke shrugged sadly. "There ya go."

"That doesn't prove anything," she followed.

"Did you not hear the part where I said I've been there?"

She moved around the coffee table and into the open. "You're not just some guy, Luke. You can't compare yourself to anyone else. No one has been as much a part of my life as you have. Nobody. Christopher included. Even if all that stuff you said is true, don't you think that it's worth it to see where this goes?"

He seemed to consider that, and Lorelai grew hopeful in that silence. She wanted to say more to encourage the positive deliberation but feared that she'd say too much and ruin it.

"I need to know that you're capable of giving me a fair chance, and I don't think-"

She walked closer anxiously. "You _have_ a fair chance. You have the lion's share of fair chances," she told him in certainty.

"I want to believe that."

"Then, believe it. I'm telling you the truth. If there's anyone not getting a fair chance here, it's me."

Luke ran his hand through his hatless hair. "Jesus, Lorelai. It'd be much easier if you didn't push this."

Her brows drew close. "Of course I'm going to push it! Why wouldn't I push it? I'm going to push it until it's caved in and unpushable."

"I was afraid of that," he mumbled.

She started toward him. "Luke-"

He backed away. Held his hand out in a stopping motion. "Please…don't come near me. It's just going to confuse me…and make things more complicated and...I just need you to stay back."

"What am I, a threat now?"

He looked nervous. "Just please stay back."

She stopped. Crossed her arms in annoyance. "Déjà vu anyone?" she muttered. "Aileen Wuornos has the entire male population scared of their own shadows."

"What are you talking about?"

She spoke in the calmest voice she was capable of right then. "I won't pretend to know everything that will or won't happen in the future, Luke. But if you felt even half of what I felt when we kissed that night, you are going to regret throwing this away. Don't do this. Please."

"I don't want to."

"Then don't. I don't want you to either. So, let's _not_."

"But this is something I have to do."

"Oh my god!" she whispered in irritation as she turned and walked toward the opposite side of the room.

Luke turned and faced the foyer so he wouldn't spend the most inappropriate moment in history staring at her lower half like a dog in heat. He started thinking of their friendship and the possibility that she wouldn't even want to remain friends with him. He wasn't exactly making her swoon at the moment.

"How about this?" Lorelai began as she turned and headed back. Her eyes were wide, anxious. Her hands were pressed together in front of her as she gestured toward him. "We hold off on making any decisions about us. Just for an agreed period of time. We just sort of…pause. Go on a break. You be Ross, I be Rachel," she quipped thoughtlessly.

Luke narrowed his eyes in confusion. Lorelai never slowed. "During that time, I'll dig deep. I'll visit a fortuneteller, get my palm read, stare into a big stupid crystal ball, rent a car and hit the open road through miles and miles of cornfields while getting acquainted with my innermost feelings. Whatever else I can think of. I'll drag _everything_ to the surface. All things Christopher."

Luke sighed, dropped his eyes, finally determined where she was going. Lorelai moved over quickly and broke his rule when she touched his chest to gain his attention again. He didn't seem to care about the contact. His head stayed low. There was no interest shown for her newest idea.

"I'll do that, Luke. I won't run from it; I won't bury anything. I'll face this. I'll face him." She watched his eyes slowly rise to hers and she sighed gratefully. "When that time is up," she continued softly, "I'll look you in your eyes like I'm doing now and tell you how much of my heart is up for grabs."

Luke's heart beat through his chest as she stood so close.

"I…I don't know…" he drug out weakly.

"What other option is there?" she asked. "Right now you think that I'm in denial, so you won't believe me. And your solution is not a good one. It doesn't work for me at _all_."

"Well, it's all I have. What am I supposed to do? Go on and date you anyway? Pretend to hear no evil and see no evil until I get dumped at the alter?" He diverted his eyes and felt immediate dampness in his palms at his careless disregard of her feelings.

Lorelai closed her eyes at his words. They definitely stung deep.

"I didn't mean that," he retracted quietly.

"Yes, you did," she refuted in a whisper.

He looked down. "I-I didn't mean to say it that way."

She didn't say anything for a moment. "Believe it or not, Luke, I would never again want to hurt anyone the way I hurt Max. Most of all, you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened." She took a shaky breath. "If I have to do some soul-searching before you trust me enough to take a chance on me, then so be it."

He hadn't seriously given her suggestion real thought but still found himself questioning her about it. "Given what you just said, would you trust _yourself_ to start another relationship without that soul-searching?"

They held eye contact. Luke waited for an answer and only saw that her expression grew more vulnerable. The answer was clear as day in her eyes, and still, she fought hard to find a way out.

He looked away.

She folded. "Would you be willing to wait for me to do this?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head and almost dashed her hopes until she heard his question. "How much time we talking?"

She thought quickly. "A month."

His eyes went to hers instantly. "Just a month?"

She nodded.

"So, a month? One month and complete honesty?"

"I promise," she said with eagerness.

He lowered his head, couldn't believe he was agreeing to such a thing. He'd begun the day thinking that it was over. He and Lorelai would be friends and nothing but. Halfway into the day, and he was calling for a continuance.

He kept his head down. "When this is over, it doesn't matter if it's good news or bad news, you have to tell me the truth. My feelings don't matter, so don't factor them in. It'll hurt a whole lot worse in the long run if you just tell me what I want to hear. If you don't care about being fair to me, care about being fair to yourself."

"Okay," she agreed quietly.

He looked at her. Laughed a little. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

She didn't say anything. Just looked back at him.

He sighed. Mussed his hair. "Jeez. I better take off. Before I see how insane this is and come to my senses," he added in a mumble.

"Wait," she said causing him to stop in his tracks. He'd only taken two small steps. "I have a question."

"About what?"

She searched for words. "During this, um time of discovery, if I happen…to catch you making out with another super skinny lawyer lady, am I…turning and walking away because it's none of my business or am I breaking out the Nunchucks?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Jeez," he said under his breath. His eyes landed on her, and even though she smiled, it was easy to see that she wanted an answer. "That's not gonna happen," he responded in monotone.

She nodded. "O-okay, but…is it allowed to?" she presented with a look of apology. She knew the pressing would pick at his nerves.

It did. He became frustrated with all the details. He hated what he'd agreed to, first of all, and all energy was going into not focusing on Lorelai laying around thinking about another man all day. Last thing he wanted was to give her his blessing when it came to touching said man. "Do whatever you want to do, Lorelai. Like you said, _time of discovery_. Go _discover_!"

She hesitated at his outburst. "I didn't exactly have myself in mind when I asked that, but good to know where you stand," she ended in sarcasm.

He stood there breathing in and out heavily as he looked at her. He reflected on what had just been said. Waved it all away when he started seeing himself as the rash party. "I gotta go," he said annoyed.

Lorelai smiled as he turned and headed for the door. Arms crossed, she took unhurried steps behind him. "We're friends, right?" she called after him.

He reached for the door. "I'd hope that hasn't changed."

"Can we hang out?"

"Where, in the diner?" he asked confused. "Haven't we always done that anyway? What kind of question is that?" He pulled the door open only a crack as his focus went to her.

"In _and_ out of the diner," she clarified.

"And do what?"

She bit back the automatic dirty answer, the one that sought out any opportunity to shine. She ended up shrugging. "I'm just testing perimeters," she supplied in honesty.

He opened the door more as he grudgingly gave her words seconds of thought. "As long as you still have a coffee addiction, it's safe to say I'll be seeing you. Other than that, let's play it by ear, I guess. Good enough?"

She stood behind the sofa, gave him plenty of room. She nodded at his question. "I'll see you later, Luke."

"Okay, but…shouldn't you probably be heading out, too?" He pointed out past himself as he stood in the doorway.

Her mind snapped back to the inn and she jumped in remembrance. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sookie. Freak out. It's all coming back to me now." She sped up and made it to the foyer in a flash.

Luke stood against the open door, leaning onto the knob. He watched her grab her jacket and purse and hop back to look in the mirror to the right of the door. He tried to look away but just ended up staring at her uninhibitedly as she fluffed her hair and moved around catching different angles of her beauty.

Lorelai looked over at him. She didn't seem to think much of his attention already being on her. "What do you think?" she asked lightly. "I look okay?"

He nodded his answer. Looked as if he couldn't care less. Lifted his brows at her. "Ready?"

"Yes." She motioned ahead. "After you."

He rolled his eyes and stayed in place. "After _you_."

She shook her head. "No, I insist. After you."

Luke released a breath and reached for the hand she had extended in front of her in a show of hospitality. He pulled her forward, toward the entryway.

He saw the smile on her face when she passed him. "Okay, okay, after _me_," she gave in.

Luke shook his head as he closed the door behind them.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"You know, he probably didn't expect you to be quite so literal, Lorelai."

Lorelai used her computer mouse to scroll along the page. "Why wouldn't I be? This is the perfect way to become one with my thoughts." She pointed to the page excitedly. "Ooh, pretty in pink. I could pull off a pink caddy, right?"

Sookie leaned in to see the screen. They both looked up and smiled politely at a guest who walked up to grab a pamphlet from the check-in desk. Their eyes dropped back to the screen when the woman left.

Sookie's face scrunched up. "It's awfully _pink_."

Lorelai smiled. "It's perfect."

"What about that red one? Ooh, or the black one? You'd look pretty in black."

Lorelai looked down at her shorter friend. "How about I just save that for the hearse that carts me off to that six foot hole in the ground." She looked back to the screen. "I want pink. And I want it to be shiny and pretty," she said with a bright smile. "And if it comes with a hot, young, southern Brad Pitt-like hunk of beef in the backseat, then we'll just call that a bonus."

"I'm pretty sure that was a Thunderbird," Sookie corrected, now scrolling through the selection of classic cars herself.

Lorelai shrugged. "It's just as well. Last thing I need is another male complication anyway." She watched the cars move on and off the screen. "I'll stick with my Cadillac."

"And you're sure about this?"

"Yeah, it's just a day. I figure I'll rent it for a couple hours, maybe take a long lunch. It'll be fun. Freeing."

"Expensive."

"Worth it."

Sookie stopped scrolling and looked at her. "Why don't you take the jeep. Ya know, the car that's _paid for_."

Lorelai sighed. "Going on a long drive with my jeep that I've had for eight years isn't an experience. When I think of the jeep, I think of errands and responsibility and chocolate rabbit ears from Easter. I need to get away from all that."

"Rabbit ears?" Sookie questioned.

"Yeah. Every Easter, Rory and I rack up on chocolate bunnies. And we always intend to get them home before we dig in, but we never make it. Each time, the poor hippity hoppers end up losing their ears en route."

Amused, Sookie relented. "Well, if you insist on going with the bubbalicious Barbie mobile, then I won't stand in the way. Matter of fact, I think you'll get some really good thinking done in that baby."

"Thanks, Sook." Lorelai minimized that screen and pulled up another. She smiled and nudged Sookie when she appeared confused. "Shades. Can't have a caddy without a new pair of raybans."

Sookie exaggerated understanding of her best friend's twisted logic. "Of course."

"Here, help me pick out a pair. Cute and inexpensive, please. The car's already costing me a house payment."

Sookie moved in to get a better look at the screen. "Can _these_ at least be black?" she asked with a smirk.

Lorelai smiled. "Sure, why not."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai tossed a peanut m&m into the air and missed her mouth by more than a foot.

"Darn, almost."

She threw another up and used both feet to slide her horizontal body further up the couch to meet it. It came down on her forehead and she yelped. When it fell to the couch and rolled to the floor, she stuck her lip out and rubbed her forehead tenderly.

"Knew I should've got the plain. They wouldn't hurt as bad."

The doorbell rang.

She sat up with the large bowl filled a fourth of the way with candies. She slid her feet into her slippers as she selected five green m&m's. "Coming!" she yelled. She popped them in her mouth and set the bowl down before she stood and hurried toward the door.

"Who is it?" she called through the door when she made it there.

"It's me," came a voice she'd know anywhere. "And I've got pizza!"

Confused, she opened the door. She took in the two large pizza boxes first and then Christopher's smiling face.

"Surprise!" he greeted with a grin.

Lorelai's brows stayed furrowed as she quickly munched on the nutty candy filling her mouth. The door was only open wide enough to peer out and she stood behind it like she was nude.

She got her bearings. She opened the door wide and revealed her pinned hair and the extra long Save the Planet T-shirt she wore that extended to her thighs. Nothing covered her legs. And the slippers she'd just put on completed the slovenly look.

Chris looked her up and down. "Hot," he said impressively. "I like the no pants look. Unless…hidden shorts? I'm thinking no."

"Chris, what are you doing here?" she finally asked.

He winked at her. "I was in town."

"In town doing what?" she asked.

He tapped the boxes he held. "Drove down for some pizza. And since I was here, I figured, why not stop by and check on my baby mama. So, I got the pizza, and this is me finishing up my day's duty. You gonna invite me in or what?"

She looked down at the boxes again. "You came to Stars Hollow for pizza?" she asked incredulously.

"I know what you're thinking. This may seem a little outrageous, but before you say anything, just know that I got a free order of cheesy bread with my order. _Would I have gotten that in Massachusetts_? Not without a coupon. No siree. But here, just a couple hundred miles away, cheesy bread coupons don't matter. I find that inspiring."

Lorelai looked at him like he'd flipped his lid. "Christopher, you don't even like cheesy bread!"

He smiled. "But I know somebody who does," he hinted. "Are we going to talk like this all night?"

She sighed and stepped to the side, allowing him to enter. "How'd you even know I'd be here?" she asked tiredly.

"Rory," he answered as he kissed her cheek and sauntered on past her.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and spoke to the outside as she slowly closed the door. "I've gotta remember to thank her later."

"Why are there m&m's all over the floor?" Chris called out from the background.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai moved through the inn with the phone to her ear. "I just find it so wonderful that my daughter, who is less than an hour away, barely makes time for her mom-"

"Mom-"

"No, let me finish," she interjected as if she was truly upset with her when she wasn't. "I don't see you enough at all, but you can manage to direct everyone else to my door all out of the blue. You have plenty of time for that, don'tcha?"

Rory held the phone against her shoulder. She stuck a spoonful of Fruity Pebbles in her mouth and then went back to watching Three's Company as she lay across her bed.

"Dad isn't '_everyone else'_, Mom. He's dad. Besides, I had no idea he'd get in his car and show up at your door with pizza. Totally didn't see that coming."

"You said it yourself. He's '_dad_'. You should've seen it coming."

Rory chuckled. "Did you two have a good time?"

"Not the point."

"I take that as a yes."

"Well, a night of Spaceballs can do wonders for any situation, no matter how grim. It's not a fair question."

"Sounds like a productive evening."

Finally in her office, Lorelai sat down behind her desk with a tired sigh. "Rory, please don't do that again, okay?"

"Do what? I didn't do anything."

"Well…don't just volunteer my night's schedule to people. It was fun hanging out with your dad and everything, but I can't have him just popping up at the house. That's not okay."

"What's the big deal? Did he try anything?" she asked doubtfully.

Lorelai shook her head. She wished Rory would just _get it_. "He doesn't have to try anything, Rory. He's a very _old_ friend of mine and we have a very _intimate_ history, as you know. There's a comfort level there and he jokes about things a little too much. It's just….inappropriate sometimes."

"And that makes you uncomfortable?" Rory determined.

Lorelai shrugged. "No. But I think we can all agree that given the circumstances of _everything_," she said, implying the situation with Luke that she'd told Rory all about, "It's very inappropriate," she reiterated.

"But it doesn't make you uncomfortable…which means it probably doesn't make you mad, so what's left? Guilt? You feel _guilty_? And if that's the case, why exactly do you feel that way?"

Lorelai definitely didn't see herself walking into that one. "Where is this going?"

"Mom, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you agree to face this thing that you have or _don't have_ with Dad? His being there under you—feel free to not take that quite so literally, by the way—can only help. You should encourage these little habits of his, if only to see how you feel when you hear them. If you think they're inappropriate, ask yourself why you feel they're inappropriate. Put yourself under the microscope here. That's what this whole weird case study is for, isn't it?"

Lorelai was nodding before Rory even finished speaking. "You're right," she agreed quietly. "You're absolutely right."

Rory took in another spoonful of cereal. She still watched the TV. And if asked, she could give a full account of the dialogue and plot of the episode. She multi-tasked like nobody's business. "So, I did a good thing by filling Dad in on your whereabouts, then?"

"Don't push it."

She laughed. "Okay, okay."

Lorelai took a heavy breath and took a few seconds to think. "If I'm allowed a little Dear Diary moment here…"

"Always."

"So far, it's Luke. No question," she revealed. "The thought of passing up the opportunity to try this with him makes me want to hot glue a dunce cap to my head."

"It's only been six days, you know."

"Well, backtalking-mouthy-diary-that's-going-to-make-me-a-fortune, there's Day one thru six for you. I'll be sure to let you know if there's change on Day seven."

Rory smiled. "I'm going to hold you to that. Though, as a diary, I have no choice but to take disappointment lying down…accumulating dust."

"And to think, you were my most prized possession at Christmas time."

"Sad, sad life of me and mine."

"Tell me about it."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai opened the diner door and went inside to an empty diner.

Save for Luke.

"Hi."

He looked up from stirring liquid in a mug, glanced at her, and then checked the clock on the wall. He didn't need to. He'd just unlocked the door less than five minutes ago. "Hey," he returned with surprise. "What are you doing here so early?"

She smiled and sat on the stool in front of where he stood behind the counter. "I had that dream again."

"Jeez. Not again."

"Yeah. My stint on death row had come to an end. I was getting fried at noon and this time I requested blueberry pancakes as my sendoff meal. They were so good, Luke. I woke up at three, and I was salivating like Pavlov's dogs. I managed to get back to sleep, but I'll tell ya, sitting on that craving for three more hours was no easy feat."

"Doesn't it bother you that you dream of getting sent to the electric chair so much?"

"Sometimes it's lethal injection," she added casually.

"Equally bothersome."

"Well, the food is always so mouthwatering. It's hard to focus on anything else."

"Like the insignificant detail involving having your life taken."

She smiled bright. "Exactly."

Luke shook his head. "Second time in three months you've beaten Kirk here. Thought you were having another inn crisis for a second there."

She leaned forward to look into his mug of hot liquid. "No, no inn crisis today. Just a regular old attack of the munchies."

He moved his mug away from her. "Can I help you?"

She sat back and looked at him, smiling. "Tea."

He nodded before he lifted the mug and took a satisfying sip. "Mm. Yup, tea."

"You know, for one delusional moment, I thought you had come over to the dark side." He shook his head and took another sip. "Maybe one day." She took off her jacket. "One cup of the good stuff, please. And remember it's six a.m. so be prepared to work out that pouring arm of yours."

"Why should six a.m. be any different from the rest of the day?" he muttered.

"Hey, now, no grouchiness before daylight, Mister."

He got the pot and poured. Looked up at her in the midst of that and noticed her staring intently at his hand. He glanced there but saw nothing out of place. Definitely nothing fascinating. He looked at her again and continued pouring blindly as he tried to read her to no avail.

"So, I was thinking," she began.

Luke frowned a bit as she still looked at his hand. He set the pot on the counter and consciously swung both hands back to his pockets as if he was preparing himself to give all attention to her and her words.

She looked away so smoothly that Luke thought he'd imagined the whole thing. She started tearing open sugar packets as she went on. "Maybe it's time for you and me to spend some time together outside of the diner." She looked up at him to gauge his reaction.

Luke's eyes moved about in thought. "Well, that's an idea. But I don't know because we've been, uh, we've been doing…good, you know?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we have. It's been over a week, and we've been doing great. Getting along fine and everything." She shrugged, smiled pleasantly. "Just like before the test run. Good friends. No _more_, no less."

He sighed in annoyance. "Lorelai."

She leaned on the counter toward him. "Before you say anything, please understand that I love the normalcy. It could've been a lot worse between us, and it's not and…well, _thank God_," she ended with soft laughter.

"So, what's the problem?"

She hesitated before answering him. "Sometimes things just seem a little too normal. And I know what we agreed to; believe me, it haunts me daily," she added succinctly, "But you've got to give me something here," she pleaded with light humor. She smiled invitingly as he remained stone-faced. "The diner's great. It's _something_, and well…it's great. But can we just…get the hell out of it?" She squinted. "Please?"

He pulled at his hat for a moment. "Not really sure that's smart."

"I'm not trying to lure you into a trap here. I'm talking about a walk, a movie, you and me and a Barrel of Monkeys. Innocent get-togethers. Nothing more."

"Well, they'd _have_ to be innocent," he reminded grumpily. "I mean, I'm still not-"

"I know. I remember," she said kindly. "And it's fine. Like I said, I'm not trying to trick you into anything." She took a sip of coffee. "Your company is all I seek."

Luke looked around with a sigh. "We're together right now. Together and alone, so you want to-" He stopped and gave Lorelai a scolding look when she lifted her eyebrows with desire. Almost instantly, her lips spread, and a soft lazy look of true amusement replaced the brash and purposeful look of flirtation. "—talk," he ended with emphasis.

She shook her head at him, unable to rid herself of her grin. "You leave yourself wide open. You've got to stop being so easy, Luke."

He rolled his eyes. "Only if you stop being so difficult and hard."

She smiled more, bit her tongue, but it was no good. "We could always switch. I be easy…and you be hard. Work for you?" She shrugged innocently. He brazenly held her stare. He didn't look the least bit embarrassed by her words as she assumed he would be. "I can explain that if you didn't get it. It was actually pretty dirty. I'd hate for it to slip past-"

"You're just making me want to jump all over that hanging out idea," he revealed dully. "It's seeming smarter by the minute."

Lorelai's smile faded. Usually when she brought out the cute, it was welcomed with open arms. For the hundredth time, she exhaustedly took note of how not-like-other-guys Luke was. "Smart or not, I still want it to happen," she insisted. She watched him search for logic. "And you would too if you just got out of your head for a minute." She pointed to herself. "I _stay_ out of mine, and look at me!"

Luke scoffed. "Not the best selling point, but I see where you're going, I guess."

"Ya know, I get the whole keep-her-at-a-distance thing you've adopted as of late, but seriously, after this month is up I think I'm going to ask that you revise the pillow talk just a skosh."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he muttered.

She chose to move past the implication that she'd sail off into the sunset with Christopher and forget there ever was a Luke Danes. "You're over-thinking this, Luke. The rules are still in place; I know them, I've studied them; I've found unique paths to the land of respect for them, so what's the problem?"

Truthfully, he'd hoped that the diner interaction would be enough to get them through the already difficult month. And he definitely wanted it to hold tight through whatever happened after that month was over and done with. But she wanted more, and though he did too, if she hadn't been so fearless in asking for it, he may have been able to deaden the urge and resist much longer.

"There is no problem," he conceded with a shake of his head. "Let's hang out."

Lorelai smiled. "Does the idea sadden you?"

His body sagged. "No."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," she said with respect.

"No," he said instantly in appeasement, "I want to. I just…" He met her eyes, "…just can't get out of my own head. You know?"

Lorelai nodded. "What are you thinking about?" she asked quietly.

He sighed, gave her a look of apology for all the difficulty he was bringing to the situation. "Bunch of things," he answered with kindness.

She looked down, looked vulnerable for the shortest of seconds before she met his eyes again. "Dirty things?" she questioned hopefully.

Luke smiled a little. Shook his head. "Blueberry pancakes, right?"

Lorelai's lip went out. "Yeah, Mr. Smooth. Add a side of bacon, please."

His smile went wider. "You got it." He started toward the kitchen. Lorelai picked up her mug and drank. "And, uh, always. The answer is always," he called back casually.

Lorelai looked over fast but only caught a glimpse of his flannel before he disappeared into the kitchen. A smile came slowly, fully. She thought better of drilling him. That impacted delight felt too sweet to risk undoing it.

She kept her mouth closed, peacefully thought of ideas of what she and Luke could do when they hung out. The smile refused to leave.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai swung the door wide open.

"Hey! You made it!"

Luke smiled at her excitement, which was more flattering than he cared to admit. "I called you ten minutes ago and told you I was on my way, remember?"

She waved him inside. "You didn't bring beer," she noted.

He started taking off his jacket. "I didn't know I was supposed to."

"Kind of implicit." She reached over and helped him finish the process. Luke rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he passed it off to her. "Don't worry, though, I've got plenty."

"Jeez."

She smiled and led the way from the foyer to the kitchen. "I've got chips, dip, bananas, canned pineapple chunks, Pringles, pretzels, fruit snacks, pizza—supreme and healthy—breadsticks, carrots, assorted Keebler cookies, a prepped salad—and by that, I mean that I _opened the bag_—chicken wings, pickles, pound cake, nachos, and a big huge bowl of maraschino cherries." She jumped happily. "Oh, and marshmallows!"

Now in the kitchen, Luke looked around at the insane spread of all foods she'd just mentioned. They were lined and crowded on the countertop. On the table was a small poker kit complete with chips and a deck of cards, along with an extra deck off to the side. Lorelai picked up a hat with a giant Spade decorating the front and pulled it on her head sideways. She grinned at Luke as he scanned everything in wonderment.

"Lorelai, who is all this food for?"

"Us."

He looked at her straight away. "You mean you're not starting a soup kitchen?"

She laughed and walked past him toward the refrigerator. "I know it's a lot, but it's mainly for variety. Which reminds me, you have to tell me what kinds of things you like to eat because outside of fruit, I don't know much about you health nuts."

He reached over and took the Heineken she held out to him. "From what I can tell, the proper place to start that conversation would be portion control."

Lorelai closed the door with her own beer in hand. On cue, she snapped her fingers in disappointment. "Damn, I forgot to pick up some Krispy Kreme donuts."

Luke shook his head and pulled out a chair. He looked at the items on the table again. "So, poker?"

She nodded even though she was now over by the counter and out of his line of sight. "You game?"

He drank from his bottle. "I'm definitely game," he answered as he reached for the black case that held everything.

"Good," she said with a smile. She started pouring the chips into a bowl of its own. "To keep from robbing you of all your money, I changed the stakes."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmhm. Chips are worth minutes instead of cash. White is one, red is three, blue is five, and black is ten." She dropped the empty bag in the trash and turned around with the bowl in one hand and her beer in the other. Luke was looking and listening openly. She smiled at him for a moment before she turned attention to the table and sat in the chair next to him. "Since I had to all but drag you here to spend some time with me, I thought this twist would be beneficial."

"You did not have to drag me here," he stated flatly.

"Thank you for saying that," she said sweetly. "But either way, in this game, we're playing for a little QT. Quality time," she said outright. "About ten hours is up for grabs between the two of us." She met his eyes. "Want to back out yet?"

He drowned out his own concerns as he took another swig of beer. "I don't back out," he asserted. "I said I'm playing, so I'm playing."

Lorelai relaxed at hearing that. Continued with a smile. "Cash game. Whatever I end up with, I can choose to do with it what I please. Same with you. Long as we're spending the time together."

"Sounds fair."

"No objections?"

"It's just hanging out, right? Like tonight?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah."

He shrugged. "Then, no objections."

She smiled. Took a sip of her beer then stood up. "Are you hungry?"

Luke stood, too. "Starving," he answered.

Lorelai seemed delighted. "Great. Um," She looked over at the wide variety of foods. "Everything is pretty much self-serve, I suppose." She looked up at him. They still stood near their respective chairs. "Unless, you want me to…" She alluded to fixing him a plate.

He jumped in. "Thanks, but I'm not handicapped. I can handle it."

"My kind of man," she voiced glibly. She pointed ahead. "If you want to start with pizza, I got the low-fat cheese with extra veggies. It's on the bottom of the stack. As it should be."

He smiled and started over. "Thanks. But supreme is fine."

She fell in behind him. "Really?" she asked, pleased.

"Yeah. Contrary to what you think, while I'm not as bad as you, I do actually like to taste my food."

"Wow. You're not as weird as I thought. Want me to load you down with chicken wings?" she asked as she slapped a few on her own plate.

After pulling a couple slices from the box, he looked over and noticed the glistening grease on the aromatic poultry. "Nah," he said lightly. He began searching. "You said there was salad, right?"

Lorelai made a face and directed him to it. "Good job earning the weird label back."

He smiled as he reached for the pre-packaged salad. "Just wait 'til I start attacking that bag of carrots over there."

Lorelai laughed.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I think I'd stand you up for that one, buddy."

Luke chuckled. "You wouldn't go?"

"Ugh."

"You wouldn't go?" he asked again.

Lorelai smiled. She kept her eyes on the TV ahead of her as she considered the possibility of spending some of Luke's six hours at the fishing pond. "Would it count if I stayed in the car?"

"Nope. I'd expect you to be right there with me. In the water. Digging out worms-"

"Gross."

He laughed. "—baiting hooks, pulling fish from the water and gutting them and taking out their-"

"Happy place, happy place."

She smiled when he laughed again. She fought the urge to turn around to look at him. She was on the floor in the living room. Her back was against the couch, and Luke was stretched out on it.

"Can't believe you'd back out on me that way. I'm so disappointed."

She leaned her head back against him. Luke had to stop himself from lifting his hand into her hair. "It's just a hypothetical," she argued. "I can refuse a hypothetical. It's fair game."

"It's cheating," he claimed as he stared at her dark hair that brushed his stomach and chest.

"You wouldn't do that to me, making me go to icky cold murky fish land," she said as she lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at him.

He smiled a little. Watched her reach for one of the half dozen beer bottles that covered the coffee table. Those were just the ones they'd had since exiting the kitchen. She picked up about three bottles before she found one that still had something in it. She brought it to her lips with Luke following her actions.

"Why are you drinking my beer?" he asked amusedly.

She finished it off and held it up. "Wasn't doing anybody any good just sitting there," she teased.

His smile went wider before it slowly tapered off. Lorelai held the bottle below her lip and blew into it, creating low notes as Luke studied her. So beautiful. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

She looked back at him again. "Sure," she said, giving him instant and all attention.

He felt nerves building as he questioned her. "Did you ever know that I liked you so much? At any point, did you know?"

She took a moment before asking, "Ever?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. I mean, I heard somewhere once that women just know that kind of stuff." He rolled his eyes. "Not that I was always the best at hiding how I felt, but…did you know?"

She turned and rested her elbow on the couch as she faced him. She looked down in thought for several long seconds. "I kind of knew…in a way." She met his eyes quickly at that revelation. "People always talked. That's a given, living where we live. But I dismissed that."

"What'd they say?" he asked curiously.

She hesitated. "That you liked me. A _lot_."

"But you didn't believe them?"

"Didn't really take it that seriously, no. It was just gossip. But after a while, and after certain…memorable encounters you and I had…" He nodded his understanding, and she went on, "I had my suspicions."

"So, you knew," he gathered.

"Wouldn't really say _'knew'_."

"Did you hope I'd never do anything about it?"

"Wouldn't say that either. But there was a certain amount of fear that may have created blinders. If _you_ acted on it," she said with a small gesture toward him, "Then, I was pretty certain that _I'd_ act on it, and then if it didn't work out…you wouldn't be a friend anymore. Pretty scary stuff."

"Yeah, I can understand that."

Lorelai and Luke stared at one another unabashedly for several seconds. "Is that something that's been bothering you?" she asked softly. "The thought of me blowing you off for so many years…"

He smiled. "Little bit," he answered quietly.

Her mesmeric blue eyes never left his. "You've got to get it out of your head that I'd hurt you, Luke."

He didn't say anything to that. Just remained looking at her.

Lorelai finally looked away from his eyes when she saw his hand go out in front of her. She glanced at it then back at him before placing her hand in his open palm.

Luke released a breath and allowed her touch to settle over him. Her hand was soft to the point of seeming fragile. He still watched her, but her hypnotic eyes were focused on their touches.

He stilled his fingers as she began a slow, sensual exploration of them. She took interest in the middle one and used her fingers to run its length. She looked at him then and noticed him not breathing. "Sorry," she whispered with an entrancing smile. She tickled his palm and smoothly entwined her fingers with his while looking into his face. "I really like your hands," she revealed quietly.

He remembered to breathe. Breaths escaped with irregularity.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"N-no," he was barely able to say.

Lorelai got onto her knees and went from looking _over_ at him to _down_ at him. "When Rory was younger, I took a CPR course just in case anything happened." She looked at his chest, his lips. Spoke seductively. "If this breathing thing of yours gets any worse, just let me know. I think I remember some of the…mouth-to-mouth."

He snapped out of his stupor, narrowed his eyes at her in question. She blushed, sighed, unfortunately heard her words play back in her head at his look. "Don't say it," she mumbled.

"Jeez, Lorelai. Congratulations on the worst pick-up line in history."

He smiled, and she dropped her head to his chest. "I used to be so much better at this," she whined. He laughed.

"I believe you," he soothed.

Her face remained buried in his chest. "You smell good, by the way," she said in a muffled voice.

"Thanks," he whispered soberly as he once again stopped himself from copping a major feel of her curls.

Lorelai stayed in place. Felt disappointed with herself for ruining a moment that wasn't likely to come again. Frustration was so strong, she couldn't even manage to berate herself for it. She was tired from alcohol consumption and so taken with the comforting smell and feel of him, she briefly entertained the idea of just resting there on his chest.

Luke took a deep breath, and she took that as her cue to remove herself.

A bold, thoughtless, completely disembodied idea swooped in from nowhere the second her forehead left his body and she found herself going for his lips.

He was shocked when her mouth met his. She was shocked when her mouth met his.

The kiss was made brief when they parted and looked at one another. Lorelai didn't have the opportunity to apologize for her inexplicable action. Luke met her lips again before she could get her brain working.

He pushed his tongue into her mouth urgently, and she met it with hers. They crashed head on with elation and went right into the place of lightheadedness. Luke backed off to get air, and Lorelai, still kneeled next to him, moved along the floor and put her mouth on his jaw. His stubble enticed and excited her to such intense levels. Luke turned his face in her direction and met her lips again, kissing her deeper than before. Made her moan and melt and move her hand sensually to the collar of his flannel where she rubbed over the small portion of flesh that showed. She slid on down and started undoing buttons.

He pulled away. Swallowed and kissed her lips a few times. "Are you drunk?" he whispered.

She licked her lips while looking at his. He lifted himself and leaned on his elbow, and she started undoing buttons with two hands. "Not really," she answered with a sexy pant.

He nodded. "Yeah, me either."

She smiled, seemed unable to look away from his mouth. "There goes our excuse, then."

Luke dropped his head back. His cloudy thoughts got even foggier when she began kissing his upper body through his thin undershirt.

The shrill sound of the phone made them both jump a little, but they continued. "You wanna get that?" Luke asked breathily.

She moved up his body and stopped at his lips. "Are you kidding me?" She kissed him, gave him her tongue.

The phone seemed to ring forever before the answering machine picked up. Lorelai's chipper outgoing message was followed by Christopher's voice.

"Hey, Lor!"

Lorelai's eyes opened immediately. She and Luke were in the midst of a deep kiss, and both of them slowly pulled back from it.

"I'm going to be swinging through your hood day after tomorrow, so I thought I'd call and see where you'd be. Sunday was fun. Hopefully, we can hook up again. Call and let me know either way." Click.

Lorelai lowered her head onto Luke's shoulder. "Somebody up there really does not like me," she mumbled.

Luke started to move. "Watch out," he said lightly. She moved back and allowed him to sit up. He looked along the couch and found his hat. Stuck it back on his head. "I'm gonna take off. It's pretty late. Gotta work tomorrow."

His sudden desire to leave was the only thing that made Lorelai think he was bothered. Everything else was weirdly nonchalant. She leaned back to give him room as he stood and crossed in front of her. She hopped up immediately and ran to meet him.

"Hey, uh, that message—what Christopher said—he didn't—it wasn't like that—he um…" She took a breath and told herself to get it together. She put herself between him and the door. "What happened was, he came over because Rory, _the traitor that she is_, made the mistake of telling him-"

"Lorelai, It's fine," he said coolly. "You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing." He pointed to the door and started to step around her. "I really have to get going."

She moved to block him. "No, see, that's the thing. I'm not doing anything. I didn't even expect-"

"I have to go."

"But…" She sighed hopelessly and stayed in place as he walked around her and to the door. Her plans for the next day came to mind and she twirled around. "Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"

He looked back at her. "Why?"

She pointed back toward the kitchen. "Because I won. Three plus hours, remember? I'd like to use them tomorrow at lunch." She paused. "Can you get away?"

He looked at her in question. "For a three hour lunch?"

She nodded, didn't bother to elaborate as he was hoping she'd do.

He shook his head at the lunacy of that. "Yeah, I can get away," he answered sans enthusiasm.

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, good. Just meet me at the inn around noon."

There was hesitation. "I'll be there," he followed in a more agreeable manner.

Lorelai gave a shy smile. He nodded kindly at her before he opened the door and exited. She approached the door, mind ablaze with worry at the newest and most frustrating setback. With a sigh, she locked up and headed back into the living room.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai stood near the check-in desk talking to a couple of guests when Luke entered the Dragonfly. It was a quarter 'til twelve. Lorelai took notice of him and held up a finger to him as she continued to talk to the stout gentleman and his stouter wife.

Luke hooked his fingers in his jeans and hung back while taking in the atmosphere of the homey establishment.

Lorelai reached onto the desk and grabbed a couple brochures for the two of them. They started walking, and in a quiet voice, she invited Luke to wait in her office before she started in behind the couple.

He headed in there. Noticed first how it smelled like gingerbread cookies. An 8x10 of her and Rory sat on the desk. Both wore goofy expressions while hanging on one another. Luke smiled when he saw it. Snapshots in smaller frames sat around it, and they were mostly candid shots of the Gilmore girls. One had her, Michel, and Sookie holding mallets in front of the Dragonfly inn, pre-renovation. The few others had either Rory or Lorelai with different members from the town.

The one that caught Luke's attention was the one of him and Lorelai. He remembered it well. A few years back, she'd snuck up on him at the lake. They bantered for a few minutes, pretending not to care that they were seeing each other in bathing suits for the first time ever. She turned to leave when she saw Rory appear in the distance but before she left, she threw her arm over his shoulder and got cheek to cheek with a grumpy, disapproving Luke and snapped the first picture from her 27 shot disposable camera. She'd shown him the picture a few days later. He was stoic and irritated as expected while she smiled bright, radiating enough light for the both of them.

Luke suspected that over the years, that picture had, at best, made its way into some gaudy photo album or scratch book. But it hadn't. Instead, there it sat in a frame of its very own on Lorelai's desk at the Dragonfly.

He was holding the picture in his hands and staring at it when he heard Lorelai's voice. "April 20, 2004." Luke looked up and saw that she had just come inside the office. She smiled at him and pushed the door closed to a crack. "Few weeks before the test run," she explained. "Went through and picked out my favorites." She pointed to the picture in his hand. "That was a definite no-brainer."

Luke took in her day's look. She wore a sleek split-neck navy dress that hit her just above the knee. Strapped heels with a high heel that looked like it had come with an instructional and safety manual. Her hair was curled and left to flow down her back. She wore accessories. One, a wide bracelet that slid toward her forearm when she reached up to remove a strand of hair from her face.

Luke tore his eyes from her and carefully set the picture back where she'd had it. "Couldn't pick one with a little less of my nipple in it?" he questioned lightheartedly.

She laughed. "It's just the top part," she appeased. "And the nipple shot is totally how it made the cut," she added with a wink.

He shook his head like there was no hope for her. His eyes swept over her again unconsciously. "You look nice," he complicated in honesty.

Her smile was beatific. She stared at him for a long time before expressing gratitude in a bare register. "Thank you."

He stood by her desk with both hands in his pockets. He held contact with Lorelai as she approached him and could tell from the way she still stared what she had in mind. He couldn't even bring himself to stop her.

He pulled his hands from his pockets and brought them to her waist when she was close enough. She immediately placed her hands on his face and guided his lips to hers. Luke pulled her impossibly close as they opened up and all but devoured one another.

They finally pulled apart to breathe. Forehead against forehead, they felt the other's heavy breath. Luke's voice was thick and aroused. "Hh-have you kissed him? Have you touched him?"

Lorelai shook her head against his. "No. I haven't and I won't. I just want y-"

Luke cut her off with his lips, his tongue. They both felt energy and desire that they had no clue how to act upon at that moment and in that setting. So, they kissed. They kissed with passion that bordered on being primal.

Someone knocked on the door, and Luke and Lorelai broke apart just as the door creeped open. Sookie's head popped in. She had a smile in place that quickly turned to a look of confusion at the sight of Lorelai breathing hard, wiping her bare, swollen lips, and trying to smile invitingly all at the same time.

"What's up, Sook?"

Sookie's eyes zipped over to Luke who knocked over three pictures in the midst of trying to pick up one to stare at divertingly.

She looked back to Lorelai and had to summon everything in her not to start laughing like a mad woman. "Um…" She gave Lorelai knowing looks while speaking for Luke's benefit. "Why don't I just catch you later. I didn't know you and Luke were…talking." She turned red as she laughed mutely. Lorelai looked over her shoulder to make sure Luke's back was still turned. She scolded Sookie with her eyes before she spoke aloud.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay, Lorelai. That is fabulous. I will wait for your arrival," she relayed like a first year acting student who lacked potential.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, glanced back at Luke. Sookie gesticulated grandly. _"You, me, everything! I want to hear everything! You tell me everything!" _she mouthed like she was about to burst. Lorelai's calm, mannered nods turned to quick, annoyed ones as Sookie refused to accept that she understood. _"Everything! I mean it!"_

"_Okay!" _Lorelai finally mouthed back with impatience. She waved her away and finally got her to back out and close the door.

Lorelai took a breath and waited a moment before she turned to face Luke.

"I always wondered what those locks were for," she joked.

Luke put the picture down and erected the ones that had taken a hit. "We better, uh, get this show on the road." He ran his hand over his lips and turned to face her. "What does this three hour lunch consist of exactly?"

She brought in her thoroughly kissed lips and toyed with her bracelet. "Um, I rented a 1956 Cadillac Deville convertible." She watched Luke's brows lift. "And I was going to drive…and think, like I said I would. I thought it'd be fun if you came with me."

He gave the exact reaction she was expecting. His hands went to his hips. "You rented a classical car just to drive around town on your lunch break? How much did you pay for that?"

She looked down. "Let's just say that I hope I have enough body fat stored up because I probably won't be eating for a while."

"Jeez, Lorelai!"

She smiled at him. "That was a joke," she said mildly.

He shook his head. "I can't believe you would…" He scoffed, looked at her. "How does it drive?" he couldn't help but ask.

She grinned. "Only one way to find out." She hurried around her desk and pulled a key fob with a single key on it from her top drawer. She tossed it to him. "Why don't you take the first stretch of road?"

He caught it without trying. The thought of getting behind the wheel of the car delighted him more than he was willing to admit. "If you rented this thing to spend time alone with your thoughts—putting aside the craziness of that—wouldn't my going with you defeat the purpose?"

She touched his arm. "We'll drive in silence for the first half hour, how about that?" she asked with a smile. She grabbed her jacket. "Now, come on Elvis baby, time waits for no man."

Luke started in behind her. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Anywhere a full tank of gas will take us."

He sighed and closed the door to her office behind himself. "Do you want to go gossip with Sookie now or after we get back?"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai skipped back to the car and opened the door to the passenger's side. Luke hadn't moved from behind the wheel. He had one arm extended along the seat as he looked up at the sky. They had let the top back on the shiny convertible.

Lorelai got comfortable. "Never knew you'd look so good in pink, Danes."

He smiled. "Never knew I'd find it so hard to care about being in a pink anything."

"Yeah, I guess when it's a caddy, nothing else matters." She leaned back and put her bare feet on the dash before sucking on an unwashed plum from the fruit stand they were parked in front of.

"Looks like it might rain," Luke commented in a relaxed manner as he studied the sky.

Lorelai looked up. "Nah, we're okay for a couple more hours. I checked the forecast, and they guaranteed nice convertible- driving weather until late tonight."

He nodded and ran his hands slowly along the wheel almost in admiration.

"Damn lucky wheel," Lorelai muttered before taking a bite.

Luke looked over. "What?" he asked with a curious smile.

Lorelai wiggled her toes to the low music that played. "Your hands," she pointed out. "They're nice."

He watched her suck juice from the juicy plum and wondered what his problem was when he found himself thinking more about the germs that she was happily slopping up. "What is it with you and hands?"

She turned her head, met his eyes with a glint that made his mouth go dry completely. "They offer insight to things of a sexual nature." Her eyes flashed to his hands. "Yours are very intriguing."

He looked at his hand and turned it unimpressively. Rolled his eyes away. "Yeah, I was probably better off not knowing that."

She held a long, genuine smile before she turned away from him and pulled another plum from the bag. "I'm having a good time with you," she told him.

Luke nodded while staring through the windshield. "I am, too. Thanks for inviting me."

She brushed off her fruit. "Thanks for kissing me," she followed quietly. He looked over at that. She was slow to turn. Seemed more concerned with getting her fruit ready to eat. She met his eyes at last and took a soft breath. "That night, on the porch of the Dragonfly. I mean it, Luke. Thank you for doing that. I would have never been brave enough to."

He smiled at her. "You seem pretty brave to me."

"You started it," she pointed out intimately.

They held eye contact for longer than they ever had. It was honestly surprising to both that they managed to remain apart. Luke looked away casually to his side mirror when he heard a car coming up the long narrow back road they'd been traveling.

The car passed on by, and he watched it get smaller and smaller up the road.

"This month isn't over," he reminded.

"I know." Lorelai rubbed a napkin over her plum until she could almost see her reflection in its gloss. "I wish it were, though."

Luke sighed. "Are you considering all the stuff that you said you would?"

She shrugged. "I'm trying. I can't seem to get past losing you. In this new way." She started polishing another plum. "I'm finding it hard to care about anything else. Or any_one_, for that matter." The men from the fruit stand could be heard chattering in the distance. They filled that small silence. Lorelai went on. "But I am trying. I promise this won't end up being as inconclusive as I'm sounding right now."

Luke smiled a little. "Try not to stress yourself out over this, if that's at all possible."

Lorelai shook her head tiredly, smiled, and finally bit into another plum. "Just keep giving me days like this, and I can guarantee a smile will stay on this face."

Luke squinted into the distance. "Shit," he mumbled. He opened his door and got out fast. "Here, help me with the top, Smiley. See that big cloud of rain headed this way?"

Lorelai sat up with alert to see it. It only took a second to spot the monsoon that was quickly approaching their rest spot. "Oh, that is so cool!" She stood up in the car. "Luke, have you ever seen-"

"Lorelai, a little help, please!"

"Oh sorry!" She exited the car quickly and ran to the back with her naked feet. She assisted only a little since Luke had been more than halfway through the process. Lorelai looked up. "Here it comes! Here it comes!" She ducked a little in reflex just as Luke got the top in place. She screamed the moment it reached them…or would have reached them…had it been headed that far.

"_What_ the…?"

Lorelai looked up at Luke's exclaim. Her jaw dropped as she watched the rain fall just shy of the car.

"Do you see that?" she asked amazedly. She looked back and saw the men at the fruit stand taking notice of it as well.

"You don't see that every day, do you?" Luke asked more calmly as he looked upward. "Well, come on before it starts-" He looked over the hood and saw that Lorelai had moved over toward the dividing line. "Lorelai!" he called.

She stuck her arm through the sheet of rain and ran a short ways. "It's like running through an upside down sprinkler!" she yelled over joyfully. She almost made an instant decision to run completely into the water but remembered that she had to get back to work.

Luke fought a smile at how happy and childlike she appeared to be over rain. He called her several more times, but she ignored him and continued to play. She even turned and stuck her tongue at him almost daring him to come after her. Luke didn't even consider it. He knew without a doubt that he'd be knocked into nature's carwash the second he stepped within her reach.

He leaned on the door and watched her dance and slap at the water. A smile came across his face, and that seemed to urge her on even more. Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder sounded out of nowhere and Lorelai shrieked, cowered, and then ran as fast as she could back over to the car.

Luke laughed heartily. He ducked inside where she'd already gotten inside and secured her belt. "I told you to get in the car," he taunted as he replayed her reaction.

Lorelai gave him a look of displeasure before she folded her arms and sat back. She looked at the rain through the windshield. "Damn, I should have washed my plums while I was out there," she lamented.

Luke turned the ignition key. "Something to remember for the next freakish rain storm."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Afternoon."

Lorelai smiled at Sookie's newest waiter. She'd met him four days ago, the morning before her lunch drive with Luke. "Hey, Xan." She entered the kitchen and immediately made eyes at the coffee machine. "There's my favorite guy! Has Sookie been treating you well, Sweetie? Have you been getting cleaned and cooed to like you deserve? You'd tell me if you hadn't, wouldn't you? Don't be shy!"

Sookie swatted at her with a potholder. "Hey! We all know the coffee maker is royalty 'round these parts, but don't forget to acknowledge us peasants, too."

Lorelai grinned. "Hey, Hon."

Sookie laughed and went back to stirring. "What's with the coffee anyway? You're fresh from the diner."

Lorelai held her freshly poured coffee like it was dear. "Long trip back. I grew weary and dehydrated."

"Ah, of course," she responded with giggles. "I actually thought I'd be seeing you much sooner today after the message I got from you last night."

"Mmm. Oh, yeah. _That_." Her smile faded as she took a sip. "I don't really want to talk about it," she brushed off.

Sookie reached back and pulled Lorelai closer to the stove by her elbow so they could talk quieter. She went back to stirring. "It sure didn't sound like it when you called me. You sounded freaked."

Lorelai sighed and set her mug down. "I'm trying not to think about it, Sook."

"Well, put that into effect after you tell me!" She wagged her fingers back and forth. "Come on, spill."

She relented. Leaned on the counter as she started talking. "Well, remember how Sherry left Chris high and dry?" Sookie nodded. "Well, early yesterday he called me asking about clothes for Gigi. She's at that weed stage now and-"

"Smoking it or growing like it?"

"Latter."

"Oh, okay, go on," she said with a smile.

"So, he called me, and poor thing didn't have a clue what he was doing. He texted some pics of things he'd been looking at and it looked like he'd been shopping in a costume shop. And _forget_ about knowing what size the kid is. She's not quite at the love-to-shop age yet, so she's cranky in the store, and he can't get her to stay still long enough to put anything on her, so he's left to guess. And lemme tell ya, that is so _not_ his area of expertise. His first born can fit half the stuff he showed me."

Sookie considered that as she continued to work. "You'd think he'd have at least a little experience. Did he not buy that kind of stuff for Rory as a kid? Maybe just an outfit for her birthday every now and th-" She looked up and caught the get-real look that Lorelai wore. "Okay, never mind," she ended.

"Yeah, so he's a complete spazz at it." She shifted. "Since it was my day off, and…since this whole _thing_," she emphasized, "Is going on, I decided that it wouldn't kill me to hit the road and meet up with him to get Gigi some nice, wearable outfits."

"Oh, boy," Sookie mumbled with dread.

"Sook," Lorelai pleaded.

"Sorry, it just sounds like this is leading up to something…oh boy-like. This is where I'd be covering my eyes or yelling _'Don't do it! Don't go in there!'_ in the movie theatre."

"Well uncover your eyes and just listen! Please?"

"Okay, okay, I'm listening."

Lorelai took a breath. "Okay, so I got to Boston, and we spent a couple hours at the mall and ended up getting Gigi some great stuff."

"Naturally."

"We got back to his apartment and we hadn't eaten so he made us some lunch."

Sookie looked up, horrified. "Was it romantic? Tell me there weren't candles involved."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "It was bologna sandwiches and potato chips. Gigi and the babysitter joined us, and the Teletubbies provided mood music. That answer your question?"

"That, it does," she said with laughter.

Lorelai smiled at that. "His babysitter left, though, and after he put Gigi down, he and I went back into the dining room. It was casual conversation for a few minutes, nothing hair raising, but then a neighbor of his came over to introduce his daughter to Chris. She was a few years younger than Rory, and apparently, he'd been bragging about his little princess, and he wanted Chris, Mr. Get-along-with-everybody, to see that he wasn't like making her up or something because she lives with her mom in someplace I forget the name of, but it's far away wherever it is, and-"

"Breathe," Sookie instructed calmingly.

Lorelai took that much needed breath and went on. "Chris invited them both in, and we all started talking about music and Journey and Springsteen and there was another knock on the door, and it was an older lady who was also a neighbor of his, and I could not, _for the life of me,_ place her last night, but now that I think of it she looked _exactly_ like the wife on _The Jeffersons_. Man, that was bugging me!" She stopped and delighted in that momentarily and then picked back up. "Anyway, she was a sports fan, and Chris had recorded some game they were supposed to watch together. It's like he just charmed the pants off everybody in the building the moment he moved in! The sports lady noticed he had company, so she determined it probably wasn't a good time to sit and game-watch, so Chris gave her a rain check on that, and she was about to leave, but not before sharing the pecan pie that she made from scratch with everybody. She came in, and all of us laughed and talked and ate pecan pie and drank bottled water, and then—_well, whaddya know_—a Monopoly board appeared on the table, and we all gathered round, and I was the shoe, and we played for like two hours. And then someone broke out Gigi's Karaoke game that you hook up to the TV and things got really saucy. I laughed. I laughed and had a good time, and I think…"

Sookie had stopped working and was trying to keep up as she stared at Lorelai wide-eyed. At her long pause, she jumped in. "You think what?" she asked anxiously. Lorelai looked down. Sookie waved her on. "Lorelai! Don't leave me hanging here! You think what?" She considered the worst. She had nothing against Christopher, and though Luke was not above driving her crazy, she thought of him like family and cared for him in the same way. There was no question as to whose side she'd always be on.

"Lorelai, what do you think?" she asked again.

Lorelai crossed her arms crabbily and just spit it out. "I think I'm in love with Christopher's neighbors."

Sookie backed off, frowned in confusion. "You're what?"

She rolled her eyes. "His neighbors! His neighbors, Sookie! I really, really, really like his neighbors!"

Sookie stared at her for a long moment before she finally determined that she was serious. She smiled wide, wanted to laugh but didn't. "Honey, that's what you're freaked out about? Because you like his _neighbors_?"

Lorelai didn't see much humor in it. "Well, yeah. They're really great. And what's next, you know? First it's his neighbors, then it's his apartment building, then it's the city, then it's the Good Will Hunting accents, and then _oh what do we have here_, Christopher and Lorelai the sequel!"

Unable to hold it any longer, Sookie laughed. "That's not how it works, Lorelai."

"You don't know that."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Okay, you're _in love_ with Christopher's neighbors. Are you _in love_ with Christopher?" she asked knowingly.

She sighed with impatience. "Of course not."

"Did the thought of _Christopher and Lorelai the sequel_ cross your mind even once last night?"

"No."

"Does my saying it right now give you butterflies or any swooning junior high type of feelings?"

Lorelai squinted in consideration and then shook her head.

Sookie nodded and then saddened. "That's good; that's good. But unfortunately, I do see a potential problem. It sounds to me like something does need to be done here, so here's what you do. You need to go, take this person aside and be completely honest with them. I won't lie. It probably won't be easy, but it's for the best."

Lorelai nodded slow, confused.

Sookie continued with a tiny smile. "Now, if Babette is really a good neighbor, she'll respect you when you tell her that she no longer fulfills you."

Lorelai relaxed and turned away with an eye roll.

Sookie stuck with it. "Just be gentle when you break the news! Try not to go into too much detail about what the new neighbors did that she wouldn't do! No neighbor needs to hear that."

Lorelai picked up her coffee mug. "You're an evil, evil woman Sookie Belville."

"Aw, you're just saying that!"

Lorelai winked at her on her way out. "You're the best friend a girl could have, though. Go figure."

"Say that louder so the coffee machine can hear you!"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Well, he makes better pots when he's angry! Try to get him _brewing_ mad; that's always a kick!"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai walked over to the ringing phone. She had a folded quilt under her arm. Home on her lunch break, she was making an effort to straighten the house up a bit. She'd just collected the quilt from the couch where she'd fallen asleep the night before.

"Hello!" she answered in good spirits.

"Mom, hey!" Rory greeted quickly. "Dad's on his way over there right now."

Lorelai drooped, almost dropped the quilt to the floor. "What?"

"It's not my fault this time. He drove down so we could have lunch together, and then when we were done, and _per his own suggestion_, he mentioned swinging by to see you at the inn. I told him you'd probably be taking a lunch break by the time he got there, thinking he'd change his mind, but he said he'd try you at home first and if you weren't there, he'd just wait at the inn until you got back."

"Definitely can't say he's lacking in persistence."

"I'm sorry, Mom. Do you want to see him?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Not really. Not that it matters any at this point."

"I'm really, really sorry."

She tossed the quilt back to the couch. "It's okay, Hon. It's not your fault. Guess I should heat and eat this leftover Chinese quickly and head back to the inn so I at least won't have to deal with him here."

"I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry."

"Why does it sound like you're apologizing for something else too?" she asked with suspicion. Silence. "Rory, what did you do?"

Rory paused. "I…left my phone in the dorm, so I kinda didn't call you right away. And then I ran into my study group partner on the way to my car, and we started talking, and I…_may have_…temporarily forgotten about you for something akin to twenty minutes, and um, there's a chance that Dad could be much closer than you think."

"How much closer?"

Lorelai looked over towards the foyer when the doorbell rang.

"Um…pretty darn close," Rory answered meekly.

Lorelai stared at the door for a long moment before she spoke again. "Rory, _Sweetie_," She took the phone from her ear and looked at it menacingly, "Look forward to Mommy's call later, okay? Buh-bye for now." She turned the phone off and set it down.

Lorelai hurried to the door and opened it. "Christopher! What a surprise!" she exclaimed with faux astonishment.

"I knew Rory would call and let you know I was coming," he revealed. "And judging by that performance that made Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves role come off Oscar-worthy," he said laughingly, "I was right."

She smiled. "Can't seem to stay out of our quaint town, huh?" she asked him as he passed by her to come inside.

"No, seems I can't." He took off his jacket and hung it up. "I think it's all this un-polluted air. It's strangely addicting."

"Yeah, that's how we hook 'em. Get them here, give them a whiff of the good stuff, wrap up a little small town charm with a side of zippity doo dah, and send them on their way with a Redbud salute."

Chris laughed. "Funny Farm," he guessed easily as the reference of locale.

Lorelai presented him with an authentic smile. "Same old Chris."

"Same old _Lor_," he countered as he approached her. "I love it." He leaned down and kissed her cheek softly like he had no plans of pulling away.

Lorelai turned her head, breaking contact. She stepped back. Felt all kinds of discomfort. Her mind flashed immediately to Luke and she nearly went numb thinking of his reaction to that. "Um…I have a little time before I have to go back to the inn, and I was going to eat some leftovers. I don't know if I have enough for-"

"I just had lunch with Rory, but of course, I'd _love_ to join you!" he supplied happily.

Lorelai shook her head, smiled. "Sure. Because _that's_ what I was about to say," she said in sarcasm.

He laughed. "Don't worry, I don't mind watching you eat. I'll pretend it's like one of those hot dog competitions in Coney Island. Although, I'm pretty sure you put those losers to shame."

"Just what every girl longs to hear, Christopher, thanks."

"I love that you love to eat!" he defended as he followed her into the kitchen. "Every girl I meet nowadays is all about salad and skinless chicken breast. I think of you on every date I go on."

She kept walking toward the refrigerator. "Can't say I do the same," she said casually. She quirked a brow. "At least not now," she admitted under her breath.

"You don't think of me?" he asked, feigning a great deal of offense. "Oh, that hurts!"

Lorelai pulled the cartons out and set them on the table. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked, appearing to be in work mode. She headed for the cabinet to get a plate for herself.

"No, thanks." He pulled out a chair and sat down as he watched her scoop what was left of the noodles and sesame chicken onto the dish. She opened another carton and dumped bourbon chicken out, and finally opened the final carton and took out two egg rolls. She put one on the small pile on her plate and then stuck the other out to Chris.

"Here, eating it cold makes you grow chest hair."

He took it, smiled. "I have chest hair."

"Oh, yeah." She shrugged. "Well, pretend it's a cabbage popsicle." She picked up her plate and walked to the microwave.

Chris took a big bite. "I just feel honored that you thought of me."

She leaned on the counter waiting for the food to heat. "Yeah, well, I heard sharing is caring and all that."

"Mm." He nodded perceptively and waited until his mouth was clear of food. "Listen, since I'm already in town, what do you say I just hang out here for the rest of the day? Just until you get off. I can take you to get some dinner. It won't be as good as this frozen treat here, but it might be nice." He took another bite.

Lorelai shook her head. "I don't think so, Chris," she said kindly.

"Why not? You working late? If that's the case, we can come back here, and I can make you something."

"Another bologna sandwich special?" she teased.

"This time I'll fry it and add a pickle!"

She smiled. "As tempting as that is, it's still a no-go. I'm…seeing someone right now," she said even though it had yet to be made official.

Chris bit off another piece. He froze with his jaw protruding. "Oh?"

She nodded while looking at him.

"Since when?" he asked.

She looked down. "Recently."

"Is it serious?"

"Does it matter?" she followed, instantly on the defense.

His eyes widened. "It's…just a question," he responded innocently.

The microwave went off. Lorelai looked at it but didn't touch it. She sighed. "I think you should probably go," she said in a gentle tone.

He chuckled because he thought she was kidding. When she didn't smile, he grew bewildered. "Where'd that come from? Why do I need to leave?"

She looked at him. "It's just…what needs to happen." She didn't raise her voice, didn't change its apologetic quality. "And please don't come over anymore…without calling. Rory doesn't live here, so I-I need that to stop." She didn't seem to process the confused look on Chris' face. "And um…we can…we can talk…but it mainly has to be about Rory, but we do have a past so if you ever need advice about…life or Gigi, know that you can come to me, and I'll be here for you. B-but you have to understand and accept that what we have from here on out is friendship and nothing else. If you can't…then that's it for us."

Her chest heaved as she finally registered the pained look in Chris' eyes. She needed for him to understand. "I am _crazy_ about this guy. He has always been here for Rory and me, and he's just a…phenomenal guy. It took a long time for us to get here, but we're here. And I can't imagine losing him, Chris." She stared at him. "Not even for you," she ended with a shake of her head.

She took a breath and blindly pressed the button to open the microwave door. "I'm sorry," she said quietly before looking away from him.

Chris watched her grab her plate and walk back to the table stoically.

He finally blinked. "Well…I, uh, guess that sums up…pretty much everything." He pushed his chair back. "If I remember correctly, you started that whole thing by telling me to get the hell out, so I guess I better-"

"That's not what I said, and you know I didn't mean it that way," she interrupted as she met his eyes.

"What difference does it make how you said it? Either way, you don't want me here."

Lorelai sighed exhaustedly. She began to stir her noodles around with the fork. "You can stay until I leave," she recanted. "And we can talk. As long as you know that what I said, I meant it. I meant every word, Chris."

He rolled his eyes and looked down pitifully.

Lorelai went back to stirring her food. She couldn't look at him, knowing she'd caused that expression.

He was the one to start the discussion. "First of all, where did all this come from?"

Lorelai looked up with alert. Her eyes bounced around attentively. At her silence, Chris looked up. "What are you-?"

"Shh," hushed Lorelai. She hopped up from the table and ran to the window while moving on her toes so her heels wouldn't click along the floor. She got to the kitchen window and leaned over the sink to see into the yard. "Ohh, no," she whispered.

"What is it?" Chris asked worriedly.

Lorelai moved away from the window and hushed him again. "I need you to get in the closet," she whispered desperately.

He frowned. "What? _Why_?" he screeched.

"Oh my god! When did shhhh stop meaning _shhhhhhh_?" she exclaimed.

"Why do you want me in the closet?" he questioned quieter, still with plenty of agitation.

She rolled her eyes. "Luke just pulled up," she explained in a loud whisper. "And he's not a fan of _this_," she said with a fast gesture between both of them. "So, I need you to not be visible until further notice!" She pointed. "Closet."

"This is ridiculous!"

"Christopher, please do this for me!"

The doorbell sounded.

Lorelai pulled his shirt in the direction she needed him to go. "Now! Please!"

"Damn it!" He turned and started walking toward the hall closet with Lorelai jumping and urging him to walk quicker. He ignored her. "Why don't you just repeat that big impressive speech you just made when he gets in here? I'm sure he'll be good to go then," he said irritably.

She opened the closet door and pushed him in. "Thanks for doing this," she said graciously. "And please be quiet!" She shut the door.

"What, can Mr. Perfect hear through walls, too?" he yelled.

Lorelai looked back at the door piercingly. She turned, took a deep settling breath, and hurried to let Luke in. "Hey," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey." Luke returned her smile. He stared at her and seemed to forget how to form words.

Lorelai blushed. "You want to come in?" she asked softly.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said as he looked down and walked inside. "Whose car is that in the driveway?" he asked casually.

Lorelai had a moment of panic. She hadn't even thought of Christopher's car being there. "Babette's," she answered fast. "Friend of Babette's. Asked if he could park it there." She changed the subject lightening fast. "So, this is a pleasant surprise. Seeing you here." Lorelai closed the door behind him, and he turned to face her in the foyer.

They both smiled.

"Dinner," he said quietly. "I-I came to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight." He shrugged. "I still have 4 1/2 hours left, you know?"

"So, this is just to cash in on your hours?" she asked with a wink.

"What else? I hate to waste…time."

Lorelai smiled at his smile. "I'd love to have dinner with you. Couldn't think of a better way to spend my night," she said with sincerity.

He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Okay, I'll pick you up at seven if that's okay."

"That's perfect."

He nodded. "Great. And as far as dressing up…what you have on is…" He looked her up and down, spending more time than was excusable on her leg area. "…fine. Really fine," he ended.

Lorelai bit her lip, watched where his eyes were. "Are you sure?" she asked, jumping in with a response. She looked down at herself, pulled at the sides of the skirt innocently and watched it come up further. "I was thinking of maybe wearing something a little more…" She swung her hair from her eyes and looked up at him as she held the sides of the skirt in demonstration, "…just a little…" She saw his eyes glued to her legs again. She smiled and lowered her skirt back down. "A little shorter," she ended quietly.

He met her eyes.

"What do you think?" she asked with a slow, sexy blink of her eyes.

He broke contact and shook his head as he laughed a little. "I think I better go. Like now."

Lorelai smiled wide and continued to look at him.

There were long seconds of quiet. Long seconds that, to the naked eye and the paranoid ear, could have been used to engage in naughty and scandalous activity.

The closet door burst open, and Christopher stormed out. "I think _I_ better go. Like _right_ now. Before I get sick." He entered the foyer and found two stunned people standing far apart. He didn't really care at that point one way or the other. "Excuse me." He crossed between the two of them and snatched his jacket from the coat rack. He looked to Lorelai who stood in front of the door. "I'm pretty sure the cat's outta the bag now. Can I leave?"

Luke stepped to the side so he could see Lorelai around Christopher. "What's going on here?" he demanded.

Lorelai looked between the two men and didn't even know where to start. She settled on Luke. "Okay, Christopher just came over, and I was about to leave…well, I was about to eat lunch then leave, and he wanted to stay, and I decided to-"

Luke interrupted her nervous rambling with a simple question. "Why was he in the closet, Lorelai?"

"B-because I asked him to get in there. I panicked. I freaked when I heard you pull up, and I didn't want you to think anything weird," she explained.

"So, you stuck him in the closet?" he asked dubiously.

She lowered her head into her hand. "I know it doesn't look good."

"I'd love to stick around and listen to the rest of this, but I really should be going. Lorelai, can you…?" Christopher made a motion for her to move away from the door.

Lorelai was calm. "Chris, you're not going anywhere until this is straightened out."

Luke made a move to leave. "Why don't you two talk? I'm leaving."

She looked up, eyes wide. "Luke, please. This is all a huge, stupid misunderstanding, and just please hear me out."

"Why does he get the please's and the thank you's and I just get told how it's going to be?" Chris bellyached.

"Christopher, please!" Lorelai exclaimed as if her patience was wearing thin.

"Not exactly what I was going for, but I appreciate the effort," he replied facetiously.

Lorelai continued to block the door so no one would leave. She talked to Luke. "Can we move this into the living room? Can I trust that you won't leave?"

He looked down to the floor to avoid looking at anything and anyone in the house. "We're only twenty days in. You can do whatever you want," he stated doggedly.

"I don't see why I have to stick around for this!" Chris pointed back to Luke as his expression questioned Lorelai. "And twenty days in what? What's he talking about?"

"Luke, can I trust that you won't leave if I walk away from this door?" Lorelai asked again, ignoring his cold outlook and Chris' questions.

"Fine." Luke turned and stormed into the living room.

Lorelai sighed and looked up at Chris. "Chris, please? Five minutes and you can go."

"What do I have to do with this, Lorelai? Didn't you ask me to leave? This is between you two, not me!"

She held up a hand to him, displayed all fingers. "Five minutes," she repeated quietly.

"God!" He turned on his heel and mimicked Luke's method of entry into the living room.

Lorelai braced herself and followed them in. She spotted them on opposite ends. Luke was against the banister and Chris stood by the window. Lorelai went to stand in front of the coffee table, nearest to Luke.

"I want to make myself clear to both of you," she began.

"You've already made yourself plenty clear to me," Chris butted in. He addressed Luke. "And just to make this go a lot quicker, you can relax. You're going to _like_ the way this turns out," he concluded with attitude.

Luke looked across the living room at him. He did nothing but take in all of the anger and petulance he displayed. His eyes went to Lorelai. She was already focused on him.

She shrugged tiredly. "Chris and I are done. We were done a long time ago. I don't want to-" She stopped and addressed both of them again. "I don't want to hurt either one of you," she said with more volume. "But I have to do what's best for me. Chris, you and I share the greatest kid ever, so we'll always be linked. But that does _not_ mean we're destined to be together. I'll admit it took a long time to figure that out. Twenty years have passed and nothing has changed between us. That says something. I've screwed up countless relationships for you, and you can't stay with anyone longer than a season. Yet, none of those have put us any closer to being together. What is it gonna take for us to realize we're exactly what we're meant to be?"

Christopher looked thrown. He couldn't believe she was laying all of that on him when all he'd done was suggest dinner. He refused to hear her, refused to make sense of what she was saying.

Lorelai spoke to him as if she'd forgotten that Luke was standing to her direct left. "Can you even say that you've ever seen us together? I can't! I've known you my whole life, and I've never seen that grow old together picture. Honestly, all I see is the fear and all the what-ifs of not having you be my 'it' guy. Like somewhere along the line, we just decided that was how it was _supposed_ to be."

"This is crazy," Chris muttered to himself. He said the next part more than loud enough. "Am I supposed to be agreeing with all of this? Is this supposed to be enlightening?" He became angry, thinking of how she was tearing down a future that was always supposed to involve the two of them finally getting it together. One day.

"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "This is supposed to be enlightening. We're used to each other, Chris. We've known one another since Kindergarten. You know my habits; I know yours; you get my jokes; I understand your humor better than anyone; you know my past—hell, you _are_ my past." Her voice softened. "We can't be together because we're afraid to really let someone else in. That's not the way it works."

He laughed. "I can't believe this. Last time we were together was over two years ago, and somehow, I managed to get dumped twice by you today. How the hell does that happen?"

"I'm sorry if this seems out of the blue. It's something that I've been thinking about, and…I just need to say this. I _need_ to get this out."

Christopher grew more bothered. "This is all because of him, right?" he asked gesturing to Luke. "What if you and him don't work out? What's going to happen if, _lord forbid_," he said mockingly. "you two break up? Will you still be _done_ with me then, too? Will this epiphany carry over into five years from now? Can you say that for certain? Be honest with yourself, Lor."

She looked across the room at him. She didn't flinch, didn't blink. "I _honestly_ believe we're not right for each other, Chris. The sooner we accept that, the better off we'll be." She paused, closed her eyes, and had to stop from gritting her teeth. "And…I don't anticipate _anything_," she stressed, "not working out."

Chris looked from her to Luke. It was the first time he noticed that Luke was no longer eager to leave. Before, he was angered and hurt. He'd shared in Christopher's grief and would have run from the house in an instant if Lorelai had not been blocking the door.

Now, he was composed. He looked along the floor as words were exchanged. Seemed to control his breaths so he wouldn't make too much noise and remind them of his presence.

Christopher turned away at the sight. He had to get away. Had to vacate the place where he obviously wasn't wanted, the place where Lorelai Gilmore—a woman who he'd always thought of as his—had another man she saw as superior…another man who avoided making eye contact with him because he felt so sorry for him. That was the most unbearable.

"I'm getting out of here," he announced sourly.

Lorelai took a step. "Christopher…" she called with concern.

He stopped but didn't turn. "What?"

She couldn't think of the right words and honestly didn't know if they existed. "Are you going to be okay?"

He started walking again. "I'm not going to jump off a building if that's what you're worried about." He reached for the door and exited without another word.

Lorelai took a heavy, shaky breath as she stared at the door. Luke didn't say anything. He heard her sniffle but still didn't notice she was crying until she turned and started talking.

"I'm done." She ran a hand across her eye and looked down. "I don't need thirty days." She shook her head as she fought to hold in tears and failed. "You're going to have to take my word for it because I don't have a lot left in me to try to convince you." She broke. Cried harder as she shielded her eyes from view. "I'm sorry," she said, words barely decipherable. "It's not…I've just known him a really long time, and I-"

Luke closed the space and pulled her tightly to his chest. "I know, I know," he whispered quickly to let her know he understood without explanation.

She curled herself in his arms and sought comfort against his firm body. He held her securely. Told her over and over how it'd be okay.

Lorelai gradually straightened up in his arms, put her face in his neck. She hugged his waist and breathed him in.

Luke pulled back to look at her. He held her arms gently with both his hands and asked her if she was better. He wiped her eyes as she smiled and nodded, feeling embarrassed at that unexpected breakdown. She whispered her gratitude, and Luke nodded and wiped some more. She brought her hands up and tucked her hair behind her ears.

Luke leaned down without warning and pressed his lips to hers. She whimpered, took steps back at the surprising force of his kiss, and then put her hand to his scruffy cheek causing them to disengage. Luke looked at her to see if she'd found problems with his actions or maybe his timing. His mind shut off again when all she did was take a breath and go back after him.

He grasped her waist and pulled her into his body tighter and tighter, not caring about the reaction he was undoubtedly going to have below the waist with her that close.

Lorelai hugged his neck and gave her all to their desperate and heated kisses. She cupped the back of his neck and applied pressure when she felt him go hard against her. She moaned, pulled away, and looked into his eyes when he moved that part of his body against her.

Luke swallowed. "I really wanted to do this in the right order because I want you to know how much you mean…" He stopped there and swallowed again, "B-but, do you think we could, um…?"

She put space between them. Took slow steps backwards. "Why don't you ask me that again when we get inside my bedroom," she suggested, arousal in every word.

He stared into her eyes. Ended up pulling her to him and kissing her deeply.

Lorelai pulled away, took his hand, and led him upstairs.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Can I just…" Lorelai rolled Luke onto his back and got on top of him as she kissed him slow and deep. "…say…" She spent long seconds doing it again, "…how amazing that was?" She brought her legs in a straddle around him, and planted her hands on his chest as she sat up.

Luke held her waist and stared for a moment at her naked breasts in front of him. "Yeah, that was pretty great," he commented hoarsely.

"You were impressive, but I've got to give it to myself. I've never been that good! I think you bring something out in me." He smiled wide at her fast, energetic talking. She leaned down and pecked his lips softly before sitting up again. "Or maybe it was all the effort it took to get you into bed. Had to pull out my best stuff after all that, Mister!"

He couldn't understand her energy level after what they'd just done with one another. He squeezed her waist and unthinkingly encouraged her to start gyrating on him. "It was worth it, though," he contributed. He let her continue. She got a reaction without really trying, but he was too spent to do something about it.

A slow, naughty smile spread across her lips as she slid back and forth over hardness that surprised her given the lack of recovery time. "You and I are going to get along just fine." He closed his eyes as she put him back inside of her. She twirled her hips around in a slow motion and started moving up and down his length. "Mmmmmm…goddd…just fine."

Luke pulled her down for a kiss. "Don't you have to get back to work?" he whispered against her skin.

She smiled. "I'm the boss, remember?" She bit his lip.

"Oh, yeah." His breathing picked up as he helped her move on top of him, exhaustion forgotten. He pushed himself into her deep and had her making louder noises and sexier faces.

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so I…du..I, uh, don't get my-my hopes up here…_oh my god, yesss_…mmm, and um end up being dis-uh-disappointed, this- this is official, n-now, right? Y-y-you and me?" She focused on him and moved slower.

Luke's answer was strained. "Oh, yeah. This is as official as it gets."

She nodded, relaxed. Got into it more. "That's good news," she whispered. She tossed her head back in bliss. "Really good news. Such good…hard…huge…news."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai walked inside of her home and after flipping through junk mail, she headed upstairs. She found her bedroom to be a disaster. She went around and tossed things here and there to make it seem less cluttered, and what formed was an organized mess that she deemed tolerable.

Fresh from work, she changed into more casual wear and let her hair down. Her following task was routine and took no time at all. She pulled a padded hanger from the closet with a newly pressed blouse and pant combination hanging from it shielded by plastic. She got shoes to match, picked earrings to showcase, and selected various other accoutrements that she tossed in the small, stylish bag that sat on her bed.

She collected everything and walked from the bedroom.

"Work clothes, work shoes, hair straightener, make-up…" She double-checked to herself. She looked around downstairs, and didn't see anything left out. "Think I have everything," she whispered. "Bound to happen one of these days." With her dry cleaner bag folded over her arm, she leaned down to the table near the kitchen and felt around for the answering machine button. "Play day's messages," she checked off as she found and pressed PLAY.

"Get bed cookies for the land where bed cookies are forbidden," she continued instructionally as she hurried into the kitchen.

_Beep. 'Hey, Mom! I'll be home late tonight. I'm going to study with some friends off campus. So, if you call something to midnight again to tell me about your favorite fingernail that broke off in the shower, and Paris tells you I'm not here, please don't freak out and think I'm in an Elizabeth Smart situation like you did last time. I just told you this when I reached you at the inn, but just in case it slips your mind—_again, like last time_—here it is on the home machine. Love you. Oh, and I'll be leaving this on Luke's machine, too. I'm taking no chances!'_ Beep.

Lorelai smiled as she walked back in the living room with sugar cookies under her arm. The next message began to play.

'_Hey Lor.'_ The smile fell from Lorelai's lips as she looked at the machine like she'd heard a ghost. After five months and no word from Christopher, she may as well had been hearing one. _'It's been a long time. Um, sorry I didn't return your call after…that whole thing. I wasn't feeling very chatty; I'm sure you can understand that. But it's…been a while now, and I miss you. Not in the way I'm not allowed to miss you anymore, so you can relax.' He laughed a little. 'I hope you're doing okay, and…well, Rory told me you were doing okay. Your relationship is going good. She told me that too, and, uh…I'm happy for you.' His tone was sincere. 'Call me when you get a chance. If you're still offering up that friendship, I'll take it. With all the previously mentioned strings attached, of course. See how good I listen?' His smile came through the phone. 'Call me back.'_ Beep.

Lorelai smiled warmly. She headed toward the door as the machine announced that it had no other messages. She made a mental note to call Christopher the next day.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Maybe I should stick my feet in ice, and then wrap them around _your_ legs so you can see how it feels."

"I can't help that my feet are cold!" Lorelai sulked as she came from the bathroom in Luke's apartment and shuffled over to the bed where he lay.

"That's true," he admitted as he fluffed the pillow beneath his head. He relaxed with a sigh. "Still doesn't mean that I want them giving me frostbite while I'm trying to sleep," he added in a mumble.

Lorelai climbed in beside him, clad in his flannel shirt. "So, I guess the mystery of the long-johns and pants are a mystery no more."

Luke smiled. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've always slept in pants. Just the long johns entered the picture when you did."

"Oh yeah, makes me feel lots better. It's always flattering watching you slip out the bed after sex to slide on long johns and then slip back in to resume the cuddling."

"That's called adapting."

"Adapting would be learning to live with my feet because you're into the person who possesses them," she said sweetly.

"Adapting could be you learning how to sleep in socks."

"Then, my feet would sweat," she pouted while watching her toes wiggle through the covers.

Luke clicked off his light. "Sweat," he mocked under his breath. "Sweating would involve a thawing process which your feet know nothing about," he told her, earning himself a soft shove. He smiled and eased his eyes shut. On his back, he pulled the covers up high.

Lorelai always had a low body temperature, but she found that Luke made her feel like Cancun during a heat wave. He was always freezing.

She scooted beneath the covers and ended up on her side facing him. She noticed he was quickly entering the first stage of sleep. "We'll finishing discussing this snuggling dilemma of ours tomorrow."

"Sounds good," he said through a yawn. Lorelai rubbed his chest, and he turned to her automatically. They both leaned in and kissed softly. As soon as they disengaged, Luke settled himself on his stomach and faced her. "Gonna read?" he asked quietly, already half-asleep. He'd gotten used to her leaving her bedside lamp on to read or work on something for the inn. He'd stopped being bothered by the light some time ago.

Lorelai reached up and hit the light. "Not tonight, Babe. I'll let you get the good, Nyquil-like sleep tonight. You've had a long day."

She returned to her previous position on her side.

"You're a considerate woman, Lorelai Gilmore."

"And you're a delirious sleepy, sleepy man, Luke Danes. But yes, you're right; I am considerate. And pretty. Say 'and pretty'."

Luke smiled a bare smile before he was breathing heavier. Lorelai watched him in the moonlight. Already, he was fast asleep.

Many nights, due to his late schedule, Luke wasn't able to spend the night with Lorelai in her house. She'd gotten used to packing up her things and going to his apartment. Her bedtime was now hours earlier than what it used to be, but after five months of dating Luke, she'd grown accustomed to the earlier nights. It wasn't often that she had trouble sleeping. In fact, sleeping wasn't a problem at all.

But this night quickly joined ones from the past few weeks in which sleep made its way to the far reaches of her mind and her newest secret obsession crept its way to the front.

She curled into a ball on her side, tucked her hand beneath her head, and stared into Luke's sleeping face. She loved watching him sleep. She loved that he'd always start the night off facing her. When unconsciousness really grabbed hold of him and turned his heavy breathing into soft snores, he'd find other positions—positions that usually involved stealing all the covers, which she was sure was supposed to be the woman's job. She'd chase the covers throughout the night, he'd wake up at various points and sleepily wrap her close, and at some point, they'd roll away in their sleep and begin the process again. But always…always, those nights began with him facing her. Like he wanted her face to be the last image he saw.

Lorelai studied him now.

It was impossible to rid her mind of the thought it possessed. It'd been eighteen days since she'd first considered it, so it'd been eighteen nights of mulling.

She'd done the math and had landed on the number four.

Four.

Four wasn't a big number, but considering her personal number remained at zero, four may as well had been a million. She'd received four I love you's from four different men in nineteen years.

Christopher, Max, Jason, and David Caudle. David was a two month-long relationship she'd had at nineteen. After two standard dates, they'd slept together, and as soon as they were done, she received those three words, a marriage proposal, and a hickey the size of Texas. She'd never told anyone about David's instant infatuation, but that night did wonders for her ego and boosted her bedroom morale by a thousand.

She'd never said it back. Not to anyone.

All of the men in her life had said it by month two. She'd been in panic mode four different times with four different men by month two of four different relationships. Each time she had found a way out of having to say it back. With jokes, kisses, smiles, and the most effective: sex.

Lorelai watched Luke sleep.

His breaths were starting to gravitate towards light snores. Whenever she was on the verge of sleep, oddly enough, those are what pushed her over. Since discovering her inability to sleep when he wasn't there, Lorelai had come to her own conclusion that the more known his presence was, the easier it was for her to relax every part of both mind and body.

She liked having him there. _Loved_ having him there. And if he ever asked her, she would tell him that. And she'd use the word love. Because it fit.

Luke loved her. It was something she knew. Something she didn't spend too much time thinking about over the past five months. She'd known the way that he felt about her from the beginning of their relationship. He'd never been able to keep it hidden at all. He looked at her like she was all he could ever want. It was inevitable that one day he'd say those three big relationship-changing words.

Lorelai used to wonder in passing how he'd say it. When he'd say it. Before she knew it, the _when_ became _if_. She stopped thinking of it fleetingly and it turned into a snail-like immersion. One day—eighteen days ago—she realized how obsessed she'd become. She lay awake that night wondering how she'd gotten there. To such an eager place.

Love on her mind.

She watched him. Every night since then, she watched him. Fantasized about something she'd dreaded for so long. In the dark, it was harder to care. Harder to find fault with turning into such a mushy individual.

She didn't care for the waiting game.

Didn't care for it at all.

For eighteen days and nights, she'd been telling herself to be patient. Because she knew that someday, it'd happen. She didn't picture it being that grand. He'd say it over pancakes and oj: '_Lorelai, try to go easy on the syrup. It's got a million calories in it. I love you and it'd be nice to have you around for a while.'_ _'You love me?'_ she'd swoon like the fanatical dope she'd become. _'Of course I love you. How did you think I felt about you?'_ Then he'd take the syrup from her and start ranting some more like the moment hadn't even happened.

She'd take it. Take it and grin. But not before saying it back.

Lorelai would've said it back to him had he been a two monther. It would have been a shock, and it would have inspired all of her known reactions. Smiles, jokes, kisses, and definitely sex. But they would have been more natural, not forced. And before doing all of that…before doing _any_ of it…she would have said it back.

Wanting to say it at all was new to her. But truth was truth. She loved him. Loved him beyond fear. As scary as it was to imagine _love_ coming from her lips, it meant nothing when faced with losing Luke. So, she'd express what had been in her since she'd opened her mind and heart to the possibility of _them_. That she felt things for him she'd never experienced. That love was the closest thing to her feelings for him and even that didn't seem enough at times. That she saw the growing old picture with the clearest quality. She'd admit to all of that.

But he had to say it first.

For eighteen days, she'd practiced saying it back. It wouldn't work if she blurted it and stole the pancake and oj moment.

Luke turned the other way in his sleep. Lorelai sighed in disappointment and got comfortable next to him. She listened to his breathing, the consistency of his snores. It quieted her thoughts, and she closed her eyes so sleep could come. Luke's snores lulled her to sleep in no time, and she was out cold.

Hours later, that cold became literal when she unconsciously found Luke balled in all of the covers and curled herself against him. He woke up. Opened his sluggish eyes and found her, spread his arms and wrapped her up. As a quick solution to his oversight, he ran his hands up and down her body to give heat. She sighed, said his name, followed it with sleepy unmindful words, and then drifted back off.

Luke breathed deep, felt his insides ignite. He snuck a peek at the clock. One hour left until he had to be up. He ran his fingers over Lorelai's hairline, kissed her twice in her hair, and settled himself for more rest. "I love you, too," he returned quietly. He kissed her once more and closed his eyes.

**-The End-**

:)

Lots of Christopher in this story, I know. I've always wanted to write something like this, and I just hope it wasn't too much of him to take. Review and let me know what you think, please.


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